I Will Remain
by raeweis
Summary: Eggman has won the war. Sonic the hedgehog has been brainwashed and now follows Eggman as a mindless soldier. The Ultimate Lifeform has disappeared. The world is in desperate need of a hero. It's time for Knuckles the Echidna to step up to the plate and become that hero.
1. I: Rise of the Empire

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and related characters. They belong to SEGA and Sonic Team.**

**I: Rise of the Empire**

They heard the announcements over the loudspeakers, but they didn't listen. They saw the warnings broadcasted on news stations all over the world, but they ignored them. When the missiles hit, they didn't believe it. When Dr. Ivo Robotnik, more commonly known as "Eggman", defeated his nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog, they couldn't believe it. When Eggman set up the Eggman Empire, they wouldn't believe. They hoped and prayed it was all a dream, but it wasn't. It had all happened only a month ago.

Eggman had been boasting about a brand new doomsday weapon he had built. Everyone thought he was lying when he said this weapon had enough power to wipe out all the nations. They paid him no attention.

Eggman threatened to unleash his weapon on the world if the nations did not surrender to the Eggman Empire. They thought he was bluffing. They did not surrender. No one was prepared for what happened next.

Hordes of Eggman's robots laid waste to the world. There was too many. A combined effort of Sonic and friends and all the world's military groups was barely enough to hold off the attack. Then came the doomsday weapon. Huge didn't even begin to describe this robot's height.

The robot was made of a highly resilient metal alloy and had been outfitted with machines that generated a force field around it. That force field protected the robot from any and all attacks; nothing could get through. This robot was able to fire off numerous nuclear missiles and bombs per second. On top of that, the robot was equipped with every weapon to ever be created, from the most primitive spear, to a deadly bazooka. There was no way this robot could be defeated. All hope had been lost.

Eggman's robot turned the world into a wasteland. Many life forms had been killed off. Those who survived lacked the resources needed to sustain themselves.

Sonic had done all he could to stop Eggman, but the scientist's new robot proved to powerful. Eggman managed to capture Sonic and brainwashed him, making the hedgehog another one of Eggman's mindless soldiers. Eggman also outfitted Sonic with robotic parts that enhanced his speed, strength, and overall durability.

Eggman had also tried to capture and brainwash all of Sonic's friends, but they had made themselves scarce. Eggman had absolutely no idea where they had gone. Eggman was especially curios as to a certain black hedgehog's location. He had searched everywhere for Shadow, but was unable to find him. In fact, no one could find him. The Ultimate Lifeform had disappeared.

It had all happened only a month ago. Now the planet's inhabitants struggled to survive. They had to find safe water to drink and food to eat. Life was hard. If radiation poisoned didn't kill you, starvation would.

To make things worse, no one was strong enough to stand up against Eggman. Even the slightest act of treason was punishable by death. Eggman had finally gone insane.

These people had no food, no water, and no hope.

* * *

**You guys voted, so here is chapter one of the action story! I hope you enjoyed! It's kind of short, but the chapters will get longer as the story progresses. Please leave a review! Thanks!**


	2. II: Enter the Echidna

**Disclaimer: I have yet to take over SEGA, so for now Sonic and related characters still belong to SEGA.**

**II: Enter the Echidna**

Knuckles the Echidna stood atop the Shrine of the Master Emerald standing guard over, well, nothing. After Eggman had taken over he had confiscated all seven of the Chaos Emeralds as well as the Master Emerald. Angel Island had fallen into the middle of the ocean. On the bright side, Eggman was unable to find them.

Knuckles now lived on Angel Island along with a few of his fellow anthropomorphs. Angel Island had barely been touched by the war making it a much more suitable place to live than anywhere else.

Knuckles watched as Cream and her chao, Cheese, picked berries. Despite everything that had happened the young rabbit and her companion had refused to lose hope. She never stopped believing that the Eggman Empire could be overthrown.

Knuckles turned his attention over to Tails. Tails had tried to develop a new weapon to take down Eggman but had failed to come up with anything powerful enough. Knuckles watched as Tails wandered around his makeshift workshop. He looked as if he was lost. The young fox' self confidence had been completely lost when Sonic had been captured. Knuckles knew everyone else felt the same way. Not only had they lost a friend, but they had also lost their leader. None of the animals knew what to do without someone to follow. They were completely lost.

"What we need is a leader." Knuckles thought. "But who?"

Then a thought dawned on him. _He_ could be their leader. _He_ could take down Eggman.

Knuckles walked down the steps of the Shrine and headed towards the fox. "Tails, I have a favor to ask."

"Okay. What do you need me to do?" asked the kitsune.

"I need you to fly me over to the mainland." Knuckles responded.

"Why the mainland?" Tails looked up at Knuckles, curiosity in his sky blue eyes.

"I'm going to pay old Egghead a visit. It's about time someone stood up to that bully."

Tails began to look excited. "Alright! I'll go get the X Tornado and we'll on our way!"

Tails started up the X Tornado and steered it out of the mini hangar he had built. "Let's go!"

Knuckles climbed into the cockpit of the X Tornado and settled down in the seat behind Tails. They took off, flying at incredible speeds. As they flew, a sliver of doubt entered Knuckles' mind. Would he really be able to defeat Eggman by himself? They were unable to defeat him as a team, so how the heck could he do it alone?

Knuckles had another thought. He'd just have to get some help. The echidna smiled. He knew exactly who to look for.

* * *

**Me: No! I died again! I hate this game! I'm never playing it ever again!...Oh who am I kidding? I love this game! I'm gonna win this time! XD**

**Knuckles: Don't mind her. She's been at this for hours.**

**Me: Gah! Why do I keep dying! I hate this game! But I still love it!**

**Knuckles: Yeah. Anyways, Rae was very happy that people actually reviewed the first chapter. She'd like to thank Tamara the Hybridian, Lordoftheghostking28, Gnat1, Disasterous Sonic, and Werehog20 for their reviews. **

**Me: Quit killing me ya stupid trash bot thingy!**

**Knuckles:...Please leave a review. And can someone please take that game away from her?**

**Just a quick info bit about this story. I actually developed the plot, made chapter outlines, and wrote the first two chapters all on the same night. This chapter and the first chapter were both written around 1:00am -3:30am. I seem to write better when I'm sleep deprived!**

**I have cousins visiting from Colorado now so I don't know how often I'll be able to update. Sorry guys!**


	3. III: What I've Done

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to SEGA.**

**III: What I've Done**

Central City had definitely seen better days.

Many of the buildings lay in ruins, walls and roofs having caved in from the violent attack. The roads were filled with giant potholes and jagged cracks, making travel by car very difficult. There was no vegetation; all plant life had been killed by the radiation in the air. Not many humans inhabited the city, as most of them had died. The lucky had fled to Westopolis (or "Eggopolis" as Eggman now called it) to find refuge. What was once a bustling city was now a ghost town. Out of all the cities in the nation, Central City had been hit the hardest by the robotic invasion.

Tails dropped Knuckles off at an area known as Battle Highway. Wishing Knuckles a quick "good luck", the young fox maneuvered the sleek silver plane into the sky.

Knuckles watched as the X Tornado took off back to Angel Island, fire flaring from red-shelled engines. After the plane disappeared over the horizon, Knuckles headed further into the city.

Knuckles meandered down Main Street, taking time to assess the damage. The old shops had been raided, their shelves now lying empty aside from the dust that had collected there over time. Skyscrapers that once made up the glamorous skyline had been cut down to size. Knuckles hadn't seen the city this sorry looking since the Black Arms Invasion.

As the sun began to set, Knuckles turned off of Main Street and headed into the casino section of the city, Night Babylon. Spotting a rotting two-story building, he hurriedly pushed the door open and stepped inside.

There was nothing inside the building aside from a rotting wood table and a few broken chairs. Against one wall there was a counter with cracked glass siding. This place had once been a club.

Knuckles began to doubt he was in the right place until he noticed a small dusty book sitting on the table. He walked over and wiped the dirt from the cover, sending particles of dust drifting through the air. Knuckles coughed as dust particles invaded his lungs, and after covering his mouth and nose opened the book. The book had been hollowed out, and inside was a small switch. Knuckles flipped the switch.

After a short pause, a square section of the floor next to the counter retracted, revealing a small passageway. Knuckles approached the passage slowly and looked down into it. He saw a rickety wooden staircase leading down towards a heavy steel door. The door had a small window, but it had bars across it. It all reminded Knuckles of a dungeon. He smirked. This was definitely the right place.

Knuckles started down the staircase, the steps creaking loudly under his feet even as he tried to tread lightly on the balls of his feet. Once he had reached the bottom, the floor above slid back into place, plunging the passageway into darkness. There was no going back now. Knuckles tried the door. To his surprise, it was unlocked. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

Knuckles took a careful step into the room, and then another. He jumped as the metal door slammed shut with a resounding bang, fur standing on end. Knuckles had just regained his composure when he sensed movement to his left; the rush of wind.

Knuckles turned fast, only to find there was no one there. Something struck the echidna from behind, sending him face first into the cold stone floor. Knuckles rose to his feet and got in a fighting stance; fists raised and feet shoulder width apart.

Knuckles noticed more movement and turned towards it, but once again found no one. He felt something grab his right arm. Knuckles struggled in his attacker's grasp but couldn't break free. A dark chuckle emanated from his assailant as he swung Knuckles around, slamming him into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. Knuckles gasped for breath as he shakily stood up.

By this time Knuckles' eyes had better adjusted to the darkness. He was able to make out a slight outline of his attacker. Knuckles cracked his namesake and smirked.

With a snarl Knuckles lunged forwards, his fist catching his attacker in the gut. The assailant flew backwards across the room and landed with a thud. As Knuckles made a move to follow up on his attack, he felt a strange energy in the room, causing him to stop in his tracks.

Knuckles felt a cool metal object press against the back of his head. A gun, perhaps? He heard a low growl in his ear. "Get out."

Knuckles considered this, but quickly decided against it. Instead he sent an elbow backwards, nailing his assailant in the stomach again. Knuckles spun and kicked the gun out of his attacker's hand, then released a powerful punch, this one catching his attacker in the jaw and sending them sprawling on the floor.

Knuckles walked over to his attacker and lifted him off the floor by his neck. Knuckles found himself staring straight into the fiery red eyes of Shadow the Hedgehog. Knuckles smirked. "You're out of practice."

"Don't think you've defeated me yet." Shadow growled.

Knuckles spun fast and lashed out as Shadow appeared behind him. This time he caught Shadow in the nose. Shadow stumbled backwards, pinching his nose.

"Are you ready to listen to me now?" The Ultimate Lifeform spat out a small amount of blood that had dripped from his nose to his mouth, but said nothing. Knuckles sighed. "I'll just get straight to the point. I need your help. We have to defeat Eggman. He's ruined everything. Millions of lives have been lost, and millions more will be too if we don't do something. You're the Ultimate Lifeform! You have to do something!"

Shadow closed his eyes and looked away. "I...I can't. Not after what I did…"

_Shadow stood in a small shaded area just outside of Eggman's base. A blue streak appeared on the horizon, quickly approaching._

_Sonic skidded to a stop in front of Shadow. "Sonic the Hedgehog reporting for duty!" He gave Shadow a mock salute._

_Shadow shook his head, but played along. "At ease." Sonic lowered his hand and Shadow smirked. "Come on. Let's get this over with."_

_"One quick question: why did you need my help? Couldn't GUN have sent more of their own agents?"_

_"This isn't really a mission from GUN. It's more of a..." Shadow looked away for a moment. "…private investigation."_

_"I see." Sonic nodded. "Someone thinks Eggman is telling the truth about his new doomsday weapon."_

_Shadow nodded. The two hedgehogs began to walk towards Eggman's base as Sonic continued, "You know, this whole thing sort of reminds me of the time Eggman threatened to use the Eclipse Cannon if the United Federation didn't surrender to him." _

"_Remember how that turned out?"_

_Sonic smiled. "Yeah, we saved the planet from a falling Space Colony."_

"_Regardless, I don't want to deal with that again."_

_They arrived at the entrance at this point. Shadow typed a few numbers into the control panel and the door slid open with a hiss. "Let's just get in, destroy the weapon, and get out."_

_Sonic gave Shadow a thumbs up. "Alright! Let's do this!"_

_The two hedgehogs entered Eggman's base, lightly stepping on the balls of their feet. Shadow scanned the area, ears swivelling as they searched for noise. There was no sign of any robots, and he couldn't hear any machines running, or even humming in standby mode. Everything was quiet. Shadow found the silence deafening._

_"Let's split up. I'll take left, you go right." Shadow whispered, his voice sounding unnatural in the quiet atmosphere. "Shout if you find anything."_

_Sonic nodded before heading into a room to his right. Shadow watched as he slowly poked his head through the doorway, before silently tip toeing into the room. Shadow turned away and made his own stealthy entrance down a hallway to his right. He had only taken a few steps when he heard something. No, someone._

_Sonic._

_"Hey! What the...?"_

_There was a loud crashing noise. Shadow turned and rushed into the room Sonic had disappeared in to. There he found Sonic, trapped in a small cage. Sonic tried to spin dash through the bars but didn't even make a dent. "What is this thing made of?"_

_"Oh ho ho ho! What's this? I've finally captured Sonic the Hedgehog!"_

_"Eggman!" Sonic growled._

_Eggman smiled evilly at Sonic, his lips stretched over bared white teeth. Sonic's eyes narrowed. Tearing his gaze from Sonic, Robotnik turned his attention to Shadow. He pulled out a green Chaos Emerald from a pocket in his red jacket. "Thank you for your help, Shadow. I knew I could count on you."_

_Eggman tossed the emerald to Shadow who caught it easily, cradling it in his left hand. Sonic could only stare at Shadow, his jaw dropped. Shock and disbelief mixed with hurt were plain in his widened emerald eyes. "Shadow...Y-you were a part of this?"_

_Shadow looked away, a sick feeling settling in his stomach. He knew this feeling all too well._

_Eggman hopped into his small gray and red aircraft and pressed a button. A large claw appeared from the side of the aircraft and grasped the cage. Eggman began to fly away in his aircraft, cage in tow. Sonic's mouth was set in a firm line, and although his eyes were wide they had darkened considerably as he was carried away._

_Shadow knew that he would never be able to forget Sonic's parting word._

_"Why?"_

Shadow shook his head. "It's all my fault. I will never be able to atone for what I've done."

"Maybe not, but you can still fix things." Knuckles held out his hand to Shadow. "Join me. Help me defeat Eggman for good."

Shadow stared at Knuckles' outstretched hand. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached out and took it. Knuckles pulled Shadow to his feet. The hedgehog sighed. "You're right. I must make things right again. I will join you."

Knuckles smirked. "That's what I wanted to hear."

**VvVvVvV**

From the deepest shadows, a figure watched and waited. Lips spread into a crooked smile, revealing sharp white teeth, as a red echidna and a black hedgehog exited a run-down club just up the street. With his prey in sight, the hunt could finally begin. Cold eyes shone wickedly.

Game on.

* * *

**Knuckles: Who could possibly be following us?**

**Shadow: Inevitably, we will find out next chapter.**

**Knuckles: Hey, how did you get in the author's notes?**

**Shadow: I'm in the story now, so I get to be in the A/N too.**

**Knuckles: The guy following us is in the story too and he's not here.**

**?: Or am I?**

**Shadow&Knuckles: ...**

**Alright! Thanks for reading (suffering through) another chapter of this story! I'd like to thank Werehog20, BlackSandHeart, Tamara the Hybridian, Gnat1, and Guest for reviewing!...Though Guest kind of scared me with the death threat. Oh well! :)**

**Leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter! You can also review if you hated it too. **

**This part isn't important, but you can read it if you want. It's just some random info on the development of this chapter.**

**This chapter was originally going to be based off and named for the song "Silent Gun" by The Veer Union. Knuckles was supposed to find a half insane Shadow, but I changed the idea last-minute. You read right, I was going to turn my favorite character into an Insane Asylum patient. Here's an actually excerpt from my chapter notes:**

**"_Knuckles finds Shadow, except he's gone slightly insane. After a quick fight Knuckles manages to knock some sense into Shadow who joins him on his quest to destroy the empire."_**

**I changed the idea because Shadow being insane wouldn't fit into the rest of the story. So I wrote the chapter, edited it, and then left it for about two weeks. I read it again not to long ago and realized that the chapter no longer reflected the song "Silent Gun" so I changed the title to "What I've Done". This new title was named for the song by Linkin Park because it complimented Shadow's guilt fest quite nicely. It was also the song I happened to be listening to at the time.**

**I'm done rambling now. Show some love/hate/any other emotion and leave a review!...I want a juice box.**


	4. IV: Savin' Me

**Disclaimer: All characters in this story are property of SEGA. **

**4: Savin' Me**

"And say it for me say it to me

And I'll leave this life behind me

Say it if it's worth savin' me."

-_Savin' Me_ by Nickleback

Knuckles and Shadow had been walking for what felt like days. The sun beat down heavily on the animals. Beads of sweat dripped off their fur.

"Are we there yet?" Knuckles asked for the millionth time that day.

Shadow sighed irritably. "No, not yet."

"How do you even know we're going the right way?"

"I just do."

They walked in silence for a short while longer until,

"Are we there yet?"

Shadow ignored the echidna and continued walking. Eventually they found themselves at the edge of a dying forest.

The branches of the trees were bare; the leaves, brown and brittle, now littering the ground. The once thick foliage now grew sparsely, and most of the plants had shriveled up.

The duo entered the forest, moving as quietly as they could. There were no birds chirping in this forest.

Something caught Knuckles' attention. To his left was a small orange tiger lily poking its head out from beneath the dead grass.

"Shadow, come look at this." Knuckles knelt down to closer examine the flower. "The forest is already trying to rebuild itself. It's as if nature somehow knows there is a great change coming."

Shadow looked at the tiger lily. "Hmmm..."

Knuckles stood up. "We should get going, before it gets dark."

Knuckles took off, leaving Shadow and the flower behind. Shadow remained where he was for a moment before turning and following Knuckles.

Behind them, a twig snapped. Knuckles and Shadow spun around fast, but no one was there.

They quickened their pace. The two animals dashed through the forest, swerving around tree trunks and skirting he edges of various shrubs. They finally came to a stop in a small clearing. There was no noise aside from the animals' breathing. The forest was eerily still and silent.

"Like the calm before the storm."

The voice came from behind Knuckles and Shadow. They spun fast but saw nothing. No one was there.

The voice chuckled. There was something very familiar about that laugh. Knuckles turned and found himself staring into a pair of bright emerald green eyes. His blood ran cold.

Standing in front of him was a blue hedgehog with a peach muzzle, arms, and stomach. He wore red sneakers with a white stripe across the middle and a yellow buckle on the sides. His left arm had been outfitted with a mini arm cannon. Attached to the tip of the cannon was a thin silver blade, much like a bayonet.

On his head was a headset of some sort. A red tinted lens hung over his right eye. The quills on his head were tipped with sharp metal, more than likely making his spin dash extremely deadly.

"Sonic?" Knuckles choked out.

Sonic smirked. "miss me?"

"Step aside Sonic." Shadow had turned around too and stood next to Knuckles.

"I'm afraid you can't pass."

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"

"It'll be awfully hard to walk when your dead." Sonic took a threatening step forward.

Knuckles and Shadow stood their ground. "We don't want to fight you, Sonic." Knuckles raised his hands in a show of peace.

Sonic's smirk disappeared. "Suit yourself." Then he attacked.

Sonic lunged forwards, his fist catching Knuckles in the jaw. Knuckles fell backwards, landing with a hard thud.

Shadow unleashed his Chaos Spears at Sonic, which he easily dodged.

Sonic spin dashed Shadow, knocking him backwards. He leveled his arm cannon at Shadow and fired. Shadow rolled out of the way just in time, the energy ball fired from the cannon striking the ground where his head had been only moments before.

While Sonic was distracted, Knuckles sunk up behind him. Sensing movement, Sonic spun around only to be met by Knuckles' fist in his face. Sonic was sent flying, but recovered fast.

Knuckles and Shadow began simultaneously attacking Sonic. Knuckles relentlessly punched the blue hedgehog while Shadow released a multitude of chaos spears. They were quickly overcoming Sonic.

Angrily, Sonic lashed out. His right fist caught Knuckles' in the jaw while his foot connected with Knuckles' stomach. Knuckles was sent flying. He hit the ground and rolled, before finally coming to a stop.

Sonic turned on Shadow. He swung his left arm. Shadow tried to dodge but was too slow. Sonic's bayonet caught Shadow's arm, slicing deep through flesh and muscle. Shadow gasped in pain and shock, clutching the laceration. Sonic swept Shadow's legs out from under him and, with a sadistic smirk, kicked him in the rib cage. Shadow was sent soaring backwards. He hit the ground and lay there, unmoving.

Sonic turned his attention back to where Knuckles was still lying, trying to get his breath back. Sonic began to charge up energy in his arm cannon. He aimed the cannon at Knuckles and was about to fire when a voice came from behind him.

"Enough games. Now we end this."

Sonic spun fast, but Shadow was no longer there. Shadow appeared behind Sonic. With his good arm Shadow slammed Sonic hard in the back of the head. Sonic dropped to the ground.

Shadow helped Knuckles into a standing position. "We need to hurry. He could wake up any moment."

Knuckles nodded. He then noticed something. "Shadow, your arm..."

"It's fine." This was a lie. Shadow's arm was bleeding profusely and it hurt a lot.

Knuckles took out a rag he had with him and tore it up to make a makeshift bandage. He tied the rag around Shadow's wound. "It'll have to do for now. Let's get going before Sonic regains consciousness."

Knuckles turned and walked away, but Shadow remained where he was. Shadow looked down on Sonic's still form and sighed. "I know you will never forgive me for what I did to you, but that doesn't change the fact that I...I'm sorry."

* * *

**An so another chapter draws to a close. Thank you everyone for reading. And special thanks goes out to everyone who reviewed last chapter. **

**I don't have to much to say at this point. I actually typed this all up on my iPod. It was kinda difficult. If there are any mistakes I missed please let me know. **

**I probably won't be updating this story for a while since I am working at a hockey camp this week. I'm actually doing this authors note on my break. **

**Thanks for reading. Please leave a review!**


	5. V: Just Like Old Times

**Disclaimer: You already know what words are supposed to be written here. I shall not repeat myself.**

**V: Just Like Old Times**

"_It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." _

-Aristotle Onassis

Night had fallen by the time Knuckles and Shadow exited the forest. The two anthropomorphs thought it best to set up camp. They found shelter in the mouth of a small cave set into the side of a gently sloping hill. While Knuckles left in search of food Shadow began to build a fire. Just as Shadow got the pile of twigs to catch fire Knuckles returned, the palm of his hand filled with dark purple berries.

"It's not much, but it's all I could find." the echidna said as he handed half of the berries to Shadow. Shadow shook his head.

"You take them all. You need them more than I do."

"We both need to keep our strength up." Knuckles protested.

"I'm the Ultimate Lifeform. I can go much longer without food than you could."

Knuckles sighed, knowing it would be pointless to argue with Shadow. "Fine."

Knuckles was about to eat the berries but stopped. He turned to Shadow. "Do you know what kind of berries these are?"

The Ultimate Lifeform shook his head. Knuckles eyed the berries suspiciously for a moment before letting them fall to the ground. "Better safe than sorry."

The two animals sat in silence, both gazing into the flickering flames. The silence was eventually broken by Shadow. "What do you plan on doing once we reach the Doctor's base?" he asked. Knuckles rubbed the back of his head.

"I hadn't really thought about that. I guess we could just go in and play it by ear."

"You're suggesting we wing it?" Shadow asked disbelievingly.

Knuckles shrugged. "It's never failed us before."

"Your logic is tragically flawed." Shadow sighed. "Unfortunately, we have no other plans, so it will have to do."

Knuckles chuckled softly. "Anything is better than nothing."

"Not always."

Knuckles waited for Shadow to elaborate, but the dark hedgehog said no more. Silence settled over the animals once again.

"One month ago, I never imagined I'd be in this situation." Knuckles said in an attempt to ease the silence. "It's amazing how fast things can change."

"One moment your world is perfect," Shadow murmured. His hands balled into fists. "The next, everything is ruined."

By the far off look in Shadow's eyes Knuckles knew he was thinking about Maria. The hedgehog grimaced, and then shook his head. Shadow turned his attention to Knuckles. "Do you really think we'll be able to defeat the Doctor?"

Without missing a beat, Knuckles replied confidently. "Of course we will!"

"But what if I'm not strong enough?" the Ultimate Lifeform's voice was barely a whisper.

Knuckles' eyes widened in disbelief. "Shadow, you were created to be the ultimate creature. Of course you're strong enough to beat Eggman!"

"Then why couldn't I stop him?" Shadow was almost shouting. He sighed and turned his attention back to the fire.

Knuckles didn't say anything; he wasn't sure what he could say. The echidna stared into the fire as if the flames held all the answers he was looking for, and maybe they did. "We'll beat Eggman." he whispered. "I know we will."

**VvVvVvV**

Knuckles couldn't sleep that night, his thoughts keeping him awake. Shadow's words echoed in his mind. _What if I'm not strong enough?_

Knuckles was shocked. The Ultimate Lifeform was doubting his abilities? If even Shadow didn't think they'd be able to defeat Eggman, was there really any hope?

Old doubts returned to Knuckles' mind. Would he really be able to defeat Eggman? They had beaten him so easily in the past, so why couldn't they do it now? Had all of Eggman's past schemes been a mask to hide his true evil genius? If so, then maybe Shadow was right. Maybe they weren't strong enough.

Knuckles sighed. Why did things have to be so difficult? They were so close to their goal, so why did he have to lose hope now?

Knuckles desperately needed a sign. He needed something to show him the way, something to reassure him that all hope had not been lost. How could you walk through the darkness without a light to guide your steps?

As if on cue, a gentle breeze picked up, stirring the dried leaves that littered the ground. Knuckles looked up at the sky in wonder as the breeze grew stronger, causing the ever present cloud cover to disperse. A section of the clouds moved aside to reveal a single star shining bright and pure in the sky. Amidst the darkness, there was light. There was hope.

Knuckles felt a new strength course through his veins. The echidna smiled. "We are strong enough. We can defeat Eggman, and we will. We have to."

**VvVvVvV**

Knuckles woke the next morning at the crack of dawn. He had eventually fallen into a restless sleep plagued by nightmares. He dreamed that he had fallen into a deep pit. He tried to climb out of the pit but a dozen unseen enemies kept dragging him down, pulling him deeper into the hole. No matter how hard Knuckles fought to reach the surface, he was always hauled further down, the light above him growing smaller as he descended.

Knuckles shook his head to clear the lingering images. He stood up and stretched, sore from sleeping on the cold hard ground. Stifling a yawn, Knuckles noticed that Shadow was already awake. The dark hedgehog scattered the blackened remains of the fire before turning his attention to Knuckles. "Let's go."

Knuckles nodded and the two anthropomorphs exited the cave.

They had been walking for a little over an hour when Knuckles realized that Shadow had fallen behind. Knuckles stopped and waited for him to catch up. As Shadow reached the echidna's side Knuckles noticed that, although his fur was drenched in sweat, Shadow seemed to be shivering. His crimson gaze was dull and clouded, and his breathing was labored.

"Shadow, are you feeling alright?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm f-fine." Shadow's voice trembled slightly.

Knuckles knew something was definitely wrong. "No, you're not fine."

"Before Shadow could protest Knuckles grabbed the hedgehog's wounded arm. He carefully took the bandages off and inspected the cut. His suspicions were proven correct as he noticed that infection had set in the wound.

"Your immunity to disease combined with you quick healing abilities should have prevented this." Knuckles shook his head. "Something's not right. There must've been some sort of chemical on Sonic's blade."

"Or maybe I'm weaker than we thought." Shadow suggested dryly.

"Don't say that!" Knuckles bit back harshly. Softening his tone he continued. "C'mon. We have to find you a healer."

"That may have to wait. We've got company."

Knuckles turned around, his eyes widening. In front of them was a legion of hundreds of Egg Pawns.

"Oh sh-"

The Egg Pawns attacked before Knuckles could finish his sentence.

**VvVvVvV**

_I'm sorry. _

That was the last thing Sonic had heard before falling into the dark pit of unconsciousness. Had he heard right? Had Shadow really said that?

Sonic blinked open his eyes. He picked himself up off the ground and took in his surroundings.

He was still in the clearing that his fight with Knuckles and Shadow had taken place. Judging by the position of the sun it was early morning. That meant he had been knocked out all night.

A thought struck Sonic. He was still alive! Knuckles and Shadow could have killed him, but they didn't._ They had every reason to end me, yet they didn't. Why?_

Sonic shook his throbbing head and began to make his way out of the forest. _They left me alive. Sure we used to be friends, but after what I did to them...I tried to kill them! Yet, when given the chance to kill me, they didn't._

Something shifted in Sonic's mind. The wall of Eggman's mind control weakened as one word remained lodged in Sonic's head. _Friends._

Were they still his friends? Did they blame him for all he had done? Had they forgiven him? Is that why they chose not to end his life?

The forest was far behind Sonic at this point. The blue hedgehog stopped for a moment, contemplating heading back to Central City or going to Eggopolis. He decided on the latter and began to walk again but froze when he heard the sound of fighting.

Curious, Sonic headed towards the noise. His eyes widened when he saw Knuckles and Shadow locked in combat with hundreds of Egg Pawns, and they weren't fairing too well. Something inside of Sonic snapped.

The wall came tumbling down.

**VvVvVvV**

Knuckles snarled as he punched through the metallic core of an Egg Pawn. He spun on his heel fast and put another robot out of commission with a well-aimed strike from his spiked knuckles. With a mighty roar Knuckles smashed through a couple other Egg Pawns. He watched as Shadow did the same.

SO far they were making good progress, though they were still being overcome. Knuckles dodged another attack and sent a hefty kick into his assailant's mid-section. The robot toppled backwards, taking down a few other robots with it.

Knuckles growled as he found himself surrounded by Egg Pawns. For every robot he had taken down, many more filled their places.

Knuckles felt fatigue in his limbs. He knew he couldn't keep fighting forever. And what about Shadow? His injury combined with the fever was majorly hindering the Ultimate Lifeform's abilities. Knuckles wasn't sure how much longer they'd last.

Knuckles made quick work of the ambushing Egg Pawns. Sensing no immediate danger, the echidna stopped a moment to rest. That moment was all it took.

Something struck Knuckles on the shoulder, sending him sprawling on the ground. Knuckles rolled onto his back and glared up at the Egg Pawn that had attacked him. The robot had struck him down using its angular shield and was now ready to deal him the killing blow.

Knuckles tried to get out of the way but his aching muscles wouldn't allow him the luxury of movement. The Egg Pawn drew back its deadly katana. Knuckles braced himself for the blow, but it never came.

Knuckles watched as a blue ball smashed into the robot, knocking its head clean off of its shoulders. The Egg Pawn fell to the ground in a shower of sparks. Sonic landed lightly on his feet in front of Knuckles. The Blue Blur extended his hand to Knuckles and smiled. "Looks like you guys could use a little help."

Knuckles grabbed Sonic's hand and was pulled to his feet. "Thanks Sonic." Then as an afterthought he added, "But why?"

Sonic's grin broadened. "I always help my friends."

Sonic surveyed the many robots before turning his attention back to Knuckles. "Are you ready?"

Knuckles smirked. "Just like old times?"

"Just like old times."

Knuckles grabbed Sonic's hand and began to spin around in a circle. When he had gained enough momentum he released his hold on Sonic. Sonic formed into a ball mid-flight and smashed through a large number of enemies.

Knuckles and Sonic continued to use this technique, but even with Sonic's help they weren't able to overcome the robots.

A large shadow fell over the land. Knuckles looked up in the sky and saw a huge aircraft soaring overhead. A hatch on the bottom of the aircraft opened. _Oh no._

Knuckles turned and ran as fast as he could, nearly crashing into robots in the process. He turned his head and saw two large black objects falling to the ground. This motivated the echidna to go faster. _I'm not going to make it!_

The reality of the situation struck hard. Knuckles had no chance of escaping the blast.

Time seemed to slow as the bombs reached the ground. The ground shook and dirt and debris was flung into the air. The explosion sent Knuckles tumbling to the ground. All that the echidna could do now was cover his head and wait for the blast to end.

When it was finally over Knuckles slowly rose to his feet and dusted the dirt from his fur. His ears rang and he felt slightly disoriented, but other than that he was fine.

Knuckles assessed the damage around him. The meadow they had been fighting in was set ablaze, the dried grass easily catching fire. Many of the Egg Pawns had been destroyed by the explosion.

Strong hands grabbed Knuckles by the shoulders and pushed him forwards. Knuckles turned and saw Sonic. The blue hedgehog's eyes were wide as he yelled at Knuckles. "Hurry! Get out of here now!"

"But-" Knuckles began to protest but Sonic cut him off.

"Head for the hills. I'll grab Shadow and meet you there."

Knuckles looked past Sonic to see the black and red hedgehog lying motionless in the dirt. The echidna nodded to Sonic before turning and heading towards the distant hills.

Behind him, Knuckles could hear the sound of an aircraft landing. Knuckles quickly hid in a small copse of trees. By now the ringing in his ears had subsided, but his brain felt fuzzy and he could see dark spots in his vision. Knuckles knew he was going to pass out soon.

Knuckles watched as the large aircraft he had seen earlier touched down. A door opened and a very rotund man stepped out, followed by two robots. This trio made their way over to where Sonic and Shadow were.

Sonic and the man exchanged a few words, though Knuckles was too far away to tell what they were saying. One of the robots lashed out and hit Sonic hard on the head. Sonic dropped to the ground like a stone. The robots picked up the two limp hedgehogs and began to follow the man back to the aircraft.

That was the last thing Knuckles saw before the darkness overcame him.

* * *

**I'm back! It took a while, but I finally got this chapter done. This is currently the longest chapter I ever uploaded to this site! I hope you enjoyed it! **

**A very big thank you goes out to everyone who reviewed: Tamara the Hybridian, BlackSandHeart, Guest, Lordoftheghostking28, Super-sonic Iblish, Starkage the dragon, and Gnat1.**

**Some random info on this chapter: The whole part of the chapter with the campfire and stuff was never originally going to be included. I decided to add it though because I love campfires!...and because I wanted Knuckles to have an epiphany-ish type thing. This chapter kind of reminds me of the songs "Show Me a Sign" by Alter Bridge (I really love this band) and "Buried in the Ground" by The Veer Union.**

**Some random info on life: ****I'm going to be starting school in under a week so updates may take a while. I'll try to get another chapter uploaded before school starts and work my way from there. Please don't kill me if I disappear again! In other news, Archie is doing a comic crossover of Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man! It's due to come out in 2013. I'm very excited!**

**Alright guys, please leave a review! And I really am sorry about disappearing for so long!...it was only a week or two, but that's still a long time! Especially considering I usually update every other day. Eh, I'm just rambling now. I should probably stop beforOHMYGOSHCAPSLOCKTURNEDO N!**


	6. VI: To My Grave

**Disclaimer still applies.**

**VI: To My Grave**

"I won't ever surrender like that  
I know better, to ever fall back  
The enemy was living in my head  
I ripped it out and left it there for dead  
Now I'm alive, I'm feeling born again  
And I will fight until the bitter end"

-_Bitter End _by The Veer Union

Sonic opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room, one arm shackled to the wall. He felt sore from the battle and had a killer headache, but he was otherwise fine.

As his eyes better adjusted to the dark, Sonic realized he wasn't in a room, but in a jail cell of some sort. Three of the walls were made of cold, gray stone while the fourth was striped with thick iron bars. Beyond the bars was another room. Sonic could see a table and a couple of chairs in this room. Above the table hung a single light bulb. The light bulb flickered but managed to stay alight.

On the table sat what looked like an abandoned game of Poker. Cards were strewn across the table and a stack of playing chips sat in the center. A few crumpled bills also occupied a small section of table.

Something in the far corner of the room caught Sonic's attention. From the ground sprouted a small metal handle. He wondered if that handle belonged to a trap door. _If I could escape the shackles, maybe I'd be small enough to slip through the bars..._

Sonic's train of thought stopped abruptly as he became aware of someone beside him. Their breathing was labored and heat resonated from their body. Sonic turned to see a very familiar black and red hedgehog shackled to the wall only a foot away. His eyes were closed.

"Shadow?" Sonic tried hesitantly, hoping to get the dark hedgehog's attention. Shadow let out a low moan but said nothing.

"What do you think will happen to us?" Sonic asked, though secretly he didn't want to know.

Shadow looked at Sonic through half lidded eyes. "I...I don't know." he answered eventually.

The two hedgehogs sat in silence, each consumed by their own thoughts. Finally, Sonic spoke up.

"Thank you."

Shadow looked at Sonic, confused. "For what?"

"For sparing me." When Shadow continued to look confused, Sonic explained. "Back in the forest, you and Knuckles could have killed me, you had every right to, but you didn't, so...thank you."

Shadow shook his head. "It is I who should be thanking you, Sonic. You saved both the echidna and I. Those robots could have slaughtered us if you hadn't of shown up."

"Look where my help got us." Sonic pointed out. "Here we are, trapped in a jail cell and at the mercy of Eggman of all people! No Shadow, I didn't save you or Knuckles, I only made the situation worse. But you two, you saved me. I'd still be under Eggman's mind control if it weren't for your mercy. Again I say, thank you."

Shadow remained silent, unsure of what to say. Another silence settled over the room. "You're good at keeping promises, right?" Sonic asked, ending the silence.

"So I've been told. Why?" Shadow turned inquiring eyes on Sonic.

"I need you to promise me something. Promise me you'll take care of them."

"What? Sonic, what are you...?" Shadow trailed off as realization set in. "You don't think you're going to get out of this alive, do you?"

Sonic gave Shadow a weak smile, sadness filling his eyes. "After all I've done to the world and to the people, I deserve no less."

"How can you say that?" Shadow shouted, startling Sonic. "You've done nothing to harm anyone. You never did any of those awful things! A poor blue hedgehog under the influence of the Doctor did, not you. The hedgehog marching proudly at the head of a robot army, murdering thousands of innocent people without mercy, that wasn't you! If you think that after one small mistake you deserve to die, you're sadly mistaken. You're still the hero. You should be correcting your mistake, saving everyone, not sitting here moping. Being the hero is your job. No, it's what you were born to do!"

"What I was born to do?" It was Sonic's turn to yell now. "Saving people was what _you _were created to do. And yet, here you are, wallowing in your own self-pity, just like you always have. You say it wasn't me who killed all those people and fine, maybe it wasn't. But that means that it wasn't you who tried to annihilate the human race! It was only some hurt, angry hedgehog with no idea how to cope and was most likely afraid. You tell me to fix my mistakes, but what about yours? Have you even begun to right the wrongs you committed? Being the Ultimate Lifeform doesn't give you the right to be a hypocrite, and it most certainly does not give you the right to talk down to me!"

Shadow couldn't hide his shock. Never before had he been talked to like that.

Sonic turned his back to Shadow and crossed his arms over his chest. He still felt angry even after his rant. He took deep breaths to calm himself. He didn't like being angry and didn't like shouting at another. Although Sonic didn't regret what he had said, he couldn't help but feel ashamed of losing his temper. It wasn't something he did.

Shadow's words echoed in Sonic's thoughts. He sighed. The worst part of it all was that Shadow had been right. _I should be out there saving the world, not in here sulking!_

"I'm sorry."

Shadow's voice startled Sonic out of his thoughts. "What?"

"I said I was sorry." Shadow sighed. "You were right, I am being a hypocrite. I guess I was worried more about you becoming like me than how I was acting."

Sonic turned to look at Shadow. "You were worried about me?"

"Of course. You are my friend."

Sonic smiled. "Thanks Shads. That means a lot coming from you."

"Don't call me 'Shads'."

Despite their current predicament, Sonic laughed. "Yeah, whatever."

The two hedgehogs fell into silence once again, only this silence was less tense than the last.

"What do we do now?" Sonic decided to break the silence.

"When the time comes, we'll fight. We can't let the Doctor win, not this time." A spark of determination lit Shadow's crimson eyes. Sonic didn't seem as enthused.

"Eggman's gotten stronger. He almost got me once with that doomsday robot of his, so what if...?"

Shadow cut him off. "Whether we live or die, it doesn't matter. If the worst happens, I want to go to my grave knowing that I've helped create a world where everyone can be at peace and be happy, even if it's only for a short while. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to scramble some 'Eggman'."

Sonic's face broke into a huge grin, a light of excitement returning to his eyes. "This is Sonic the Hedgehog you're talking too. I was born ready!"

Shadow smirked, something that felt like excitement filling his body.

Sonic's ears swivelled as they picked up the sound of footsteps. He heard a small jingling sound and a soft click, like keys turning in a lock. Shadow heard this too.

"It's time." he said as the trap door opened and two robots entered the room. "Let's roll."

* * *

**Thank you to the following people who reviewed: Super-sonic Iblish, Aj the human, Lordoftheghostking28, Werehog20, BlackSandHeart, and Gnat1.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read the story also! I can't really list all your names because I don't know who all of you are. If I could I would go and give each one of you a hug (or a cookie, if you didn't want a hug).**

**Knuckles: That's just creepy.**

**Me: You can't be in this author's note.**

**Knuckles: Why not?**

**Me: You're still unconscious.**

**Sonic: But I'm not!**

**Me: Yeah, but I like having you in the A/N.**

**Shadow: hmph.**

**Me: Are you still angry that I accidentally sang 'All Hail Shadow' wrong?**

**Sonic: I wouldn't doubt it. I mean, this guy knows how to keep a grudge. He held one for 50 years!**

**Shadow: I'm leaving.**

**Me: Ooookay. Well, it's time to end the author's note. Knuckles, is there anything you want to add?**

**Knuckles:...**

**Me: Knuckles?**

**Knuckles: *whispering* I'm still unconscious.**

**Me: *face palm* Yeah, ok. Please leave a review!**

**You can stop reading now. This is just some random info for anyone who gives a crap.**

**This was actually the first chapter ever written for this story. This is, in fact, the chapter that started it all. I had this random idea one night of Sonic and Shadow being trapped and having a heart-to-heart chat with each other so I wrote it down. Then I got thinking of how they would've gotten in that situation and thought of this story! This isn't the original version of the chapter, of course. I made a lot of changes to the conversation they had, but the beginning is pretty much the same. I like this version way more than the original, and I'm sure you guys would agree.**

**Ok, I'm done. Bye!**


	7. VII: Friends in Low Places

**Disclaimer: All characters are property of SEGA.**

**VII: Friends in Low Places**

"Is he dead?"

"No, he's just unconscious."

"Can I poke him?"

"What? Of course you can't poke him!"

"Aww, please?"

"No."

The sound on monotonous sobs could be heard, followed by an exasperated sigh. "Espio, a little help here?"

There was a surprised yowl, cutting the crying off abruptly. Footsteps shuffled across the floor and the sounds of a struggle could be heard. The noise produced from the tussle drifted into Knuckles' ears, invading his subconscious. He shifted a little before slowly blinking open his eyes.

Everything was fuzzy at first. Knuckles blinked more and soon everything came into focus. He was in a small room. The floor was made of light colored wood while the walls were made of crumbling white plaster. The room was mostly bare, other than the worn-out leather sofa on which he lay, and a small oak desk that sat against the far wall. The desk was cluttered with dust covered books and long forgotten papers.

In the center of the room stood a purple chameleon, a large green crocodile, and a young bee. The crocodile, known as Vector, held the bee by the arms in a vice-like grip while the chameleon, Espio, wrapped long sticky strands of duct tape around the child's mouth. The bee, Charmy, struggled in Vector's grasp but couldn't break free. When the three animals realized they were being watched they immediately broke apart, Vector and Espio sheepishly rubbing the backs of their heads while Charmy rid himself of the gluey tendrils of duct tape.

"So your awake." observed Vector.

"I suppose so." Knuckles hesitantly sat up. "Where am I?"

"Westopolis-er-Eggopolis. The Chaotix detective agency HQ to be exact. Well, what's left of it anyway."

Knuckles nodded his head slowly, regretting the small action as a feeling of dizziness swept over him. The echidna clutched his now throbbing head, trying to steady himself.

"Easy now. That was quite the explosion you were caught in."

As Vector spoke Espio exited the room. He returned soon after, a small ceramic mug in his hands. The chameleon handed the steaming beverage to Knuckles who accepted it gratefully.

Knuckles took a sip of the tepid tea and narrowed his eyes in thought. Yes, he had been caught in an explosion. But, what else had happened? His memory felt a little fuzzy. Knuckles strained his brain, trying to recall the details. He stopped as his head began to throb again. "What happened?"

Vector settled himself down on the sofa. "Well, Espio, Charmy, and I saw a colossal explosion, so being the great detectives we are, we went to investigate. We came to a large meadow covered in soot and dismembered robots. After a more thorough search we found you lying unconscious in the brush. We brought you back here and cleaned and bandaged your wounds. That must've been some fight you were in."

Knuckles examined his arms and saw that they were covered in crisp white bandages. Yes, there had been a fight.

"After we cleaned you up, we left you to your rest. And now, here we are." Vector finished.

Knuckles nodded, drinking in all the information. Slowly his memories returned to him; the fight...the aircraft... the bombs...they had fled...Sonic had gone back... "Sonic! Shadow! W-where are they?"

Vector shrugged. "We searched the entire meadow. You were the only one there."

"No, Sonic and Shadow were both with me." Knuckles shook his head. Why couldn't he remember? Wait, the aircraft...

Knuckles jumped to his feet, eyes widening in alarm. "Eggman! He's got them! H-he captured them!"

Knuckles felt his legs tremble. Soon his knees buckled and he collapsed. Espio darted over and caught the weakened echidna before he could hit the ground. The ninja gently placed Knuckles back on the sofa. "Take it easy, Knuckles. You have not yet recovered fully. You must rest."

"No!" Knuckles tried to stand again but collapsed onto the sofa. "We have to help them! Eggman! He'll kill them!"

"The state you're in, you'll be killed too if you tried to help."

Knuckles growled, but deep down he knew Espio was right. This however, did not keep the stubborn echidna from arguing. "No, I can save them! They need me! Sonic... I can't lose him again. I won't!"

"Relax, Knuckles! Sonic and Shadow will be fine! Get some rest now. You'll feel better afterwards." Vector instructed, coaxing Knuckles to lie down. Knuckles resisted.

"I don't need rest. I need to get out there!" the last half of Knuckles' protest was muffled by a yawn.

"Sleep, Knuckles." Vector commanded, his voice gentle yet stern.

Knuckles opened his mouth to protest but closed it again. What was the point? They were right about everything. It would do no good for anyone if he were to go after Eggman in his current state. Besides, he really was exhausted.

Knuckles curled himself up in the soft blanket that Charmy had draped over him. Stifling a yawn, Knuckles closed his eyes.

Seeing that their friend had drifted off to sleep, Charmy, Espio, and Vector exited the room.

"Vector..."

The crocodile stopped in the doorway and turned back to Knuckles. "Yeah?"

Knuckles shifted into a half-sitting position. "Thank you...for putting up with me, and helping me."

Vector smiled. "No problem."

He was about to leave but stopped when Knuckles spoke again. "I'm sorry, for leaving you guys."

"It's all right. Things happen, we understand."

Knuckles looked up at Vector. "No hard feelings?"

The crocodile shook his head. "No hard feelings. Now get some rest."

Knuckles nodded and settled back onto the sofa. Vector waited until he was sure the echidna was asleep before leaving the room, closing the door softly behind him.

**VvVvVvV**

Tails arrived in Eggopolis later that evening after having received a call from Vector. He landed the X Tornado on the outskirts of the city and made his way over to the Chaotix Head Quarters. Climbing the crumbling steps, Tails took a deep breath and knocked on the huge oak door. The fox pushed the door open after hearing a gruff, "Come in."

Tails found himself in a small room, illuminated by a rusted candelabrum. The candles' flames sent shadows dancing across the deep burgundy walls. In the center of the room was a dark leather love-seat and a matching lounge chair. A few feet from the furniture was a diminutive television set. Huddled around the television were the Chaotix.

Vector growled and shook his head as he decreased the volume of the TV. "Things just keep getting worse."

"What's happened now?" Tails asked.

"Another city has gone down in flames and there is a rumor that Eggman plans on breaking out the roboticizer again."

Tails shuddered at the thought of the helpless creatures trapped within the robot's cold exterior. He shook his head, changing the subject. "How's Knuckles?"

"He's doing fine now. He didn't suffer from any major injuries, he's just tired." Vector sighed. "When he woke up he was in hysterics. I've never seen him more panicked, more scared, in my life!"

"Sonic's capture a first time really hurt him." Charmy put in.

"Sonic's capture was hard on all of us." Espio agreed.

Tails felt tears prick the back of his eyes at the mention of his 'older brother'. "He's back though, isn't he? Sonic?"

Vector nodded. "Only, Knuckles said that Sonic and Shadow have been captured by Eggman."

Tails' face fell. "Oh."

Charmy buzzed over and patted Tails comfortingly on the back. "Don't worry, Tails! Sonic will be fine! He is Sonic, after all."

Tails smiled slightly. "Yeah, your right." He cleared his throat. "So, what's the plan?"

"We figured Eggman would be hiding in his base in the center of the city, so we thought it would be best of we attacked there."

Tails nodded. "Yes, that's his main base so it would definitely benefit us to destroy it. The only problem is, that base would be the heaviest guarded."

Vector narrowed his eyes. "We could always..."

He trailed off as something on the TV caught his eye. Quickly, Vector grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

"_...to the biggest event of the year. A battle in which none can compare..."_

Espio sighed. "It's just another of Eggman's brawls. It's sick how he forces innocents to fight like that..."

Vector hushed Espio. "Look!"

_"... Tonight's battle will feature two very special guests..."_

Two blurry pictures appeared on the screen. Everyone's jaws dropped in shock.

It was at that moment that Knuckles entered the room. He gazed at the four in the room in confusion before shifting to glance at the screen. His eyes widened in alarm.

"Sonic! Shadow!"

* * *

**I'm back! Sorry for the very long wait. I got the worst case of writer's block ever. I managed to write the first half of this chapter but got stuck again, and then motivation struck me...**

**Shadow: "Motiviation" meaning my fist...**

**And I managed to finish the chapter. I hope you guys all enjoyed, and don't worry, their will be lots of action in the next chapter! Anyone else have something to say?**

**Sonic: Yeah I've got a question. If script format is not allowed on this site, then why are all the author's notes written like that? Wouldn't that sort of make it illegal?**

**Well, the author's notes would be kind of stupid sounding if we wrote it in story format. For example...**

* * *

In the room sat a blue hedgehog, a black and red hedgehog, and a very dorky author. The author pushed her bangs out of her face as she adressed the readers of her fanfic. "I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. I got the-"

"Wait, you're just repeating everything you said above!" Interrupted the black hedgehog, Shadow.

The author crossed her arms. "Yeah, so?"

"What's the point?"

"I'm proving to Sonic here," she gestured to the blue hedgehog, "that writing the author's notes in story format is stupid."

"Yes, point proven." Sonic grumbled. "Can we switch back to script now?"

The author smiled. "I thought you'd never ask!"

* * *

**Shadow: Why was I in that?**

**Because I love you!**

**Shadow: ...**

**Ha ha, alright guys! Please leave a review!**


	8. VIII: Down to My Last

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to SEGA.**

**VIII: Down to My Last**

"_How far will you run now?_

_And how long will you lay down?_

_Tomorrow's a promise to no one at all_

_When will it all end?" _

_ -_Janus "_Promise to No One"_

The sky was painted a drab shade of gray. The constant cover of clouds blocked out any sunlight. An unforgiving breeze tore through the streets, stirring up leaves and forgotten newspapers.

The drone of an airplane could be heard overhead. In the cockpit of the small plane sat a two-tailed fox, easily recognizable as Tails.

On the left wing of the plane, a red furred echidna knelt, gripping the wing tight to keep from being knocked off by the winds buffeting at his dreadlocks. This, of course, was Knuckles.

Over the roar of the wind, Tails shouted, "ETA in two minutes!"

Knuckles nodded in acknowledgement, but said nothing. His eyes were closed in deep thought.

That evening had been very stressful, with two parties arguing over the next course of action. On one side of the argument was Knuckles, who wanted to help Sonic and Shadow. On the other side, Vector wanted to think up a plan first before charging in.

"By the time we get there, they could be dead!" Knuckles argued, nearly shouting.

"And if we don't have a plan, we could also get killed!" Vector retorted.

"At least we would have tried!"

The two continued arguing, voices increasing with every remark. Tails still sat, staring at the blank TV screen, fighting back tears. No one ever left one of Eggman's fights alive. Who's to say Sonic's fate would be any different?

Anger flared within Tails. He had to do something. He couldn't let Sonic get killed! Not if there was something to be done about it!

"STOP!" he called out. Knuckles and Vector's argument immediately ceased. Smirking to himself, Tails continued, "Arguing will get us nowhere. If we're going to act, we have to act now!"

Knuckles nodded in agreement. Vector looked like he was about to argue, but a sharp glare from Espio stopped him. Instead, the crocodile sighed and said, "Fine. Go and get yourselves slaughtered. Just don't come crawling back to us, 'cause we won't help you!"

"Then so be it." Knuckles turned and exited the room, Tails scampering along at his heels.

"Here." The fox said, placing a small watch-like device into Knuckles' palm. "This is a communicator. That way we can get in touch. Just press the black button on the right side to call me. It has a wide range, so we should be able to keep in touch."

As Tails explained this, Knuckles strapped the device to his wrist. "Let's go."

Now, still kneeling on the wing of the X Tornado, Knuckles eyed the communicator in thought.

"ETA in one minute!"

Tails' voice cut into Knuckles' thoughts. Shaking his head, the echidna looked across the land towards the fast approaching fighting arena, the Egg Dome.

_Hang in there guys. We're coming. _

**VvVvVvV**

When Eggman had set up his empire he chose Westopolis to be the new capital, reason being it was the only city that had not been completely obliterated.

Now, being ruler of an entire empire can get very boring at times. To solve this problem, Eggman constructed (well, he hired people to construct) the Egg Dome, a large fighting arena heavily resembling the Roman Coliseum.

Eggman chose two of citizens to fight in the arena, both one on one and group fights. The first to kill their opponent was the winner.

What better way to amuse yourself than watching two creatures fight to the death?

Of course, among the very brutal battles witnessed within the arena, there were also times when the two chosen opponents refused to fight each other.

This was one of those times.

"You heard me! Begin the fight!" Eggman shouted through a large bullhorn at the two hedgehogs standing in the arena.

Sonic folded his arms across his chest. "Nuh-uh."

"Please fight?"

Sonic considered this. "Well, since you did say please…No."

Sonic grinned and basked in the crowd's cheers and laughter as Eggman growled in frustration.

Being the genius he was though, Eggman had a backup plan.

"Fine! If you two won't fight each other, then you'll have to fight…" Robotnik paused for dramatic effect, pulling out a small remote with a single red button on it. "…the EGG PAWNS!"

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Sonic observed as Eggman released a legion of cannon-wielding Pawns.

The blue hedgehog turned to Shadow. "'Unleash a million faces', huh Shadow?"

"Technically, a legion only contains three thousand to-"

"Don't ruin my fun."

Sonic turned back to the spectator's box in which Eggman sat. "Hey Egghead! They outnumber us a gazillion to one! This is so unfair!"

A cocky grin appeared on Sonic's face. "…for them."

"Oooh! You'll regret that hedgehog! Egg Pawns, ATTACK!"

And so the battle began.

The two hedgehogs charged at the oncoming robots, darting away to attack from opposite sides. Sonic used a homing attack to put a large number of the Pawns out of commission.

Shadow launched a spin-dash on the robots, hitting them with such force that they toppled backward into their robotic brethren. While still in the air, the black hedgehog unleashed an arsenal of chaos spears on the Egg Pawns. Shadow landed quietly in the center of a ring of demolished robots, a smirk etched onto his face.

Sonic had separated a small selection of robots from the main group. He proceeded to repeatedly run circles around the robots, creating a blue tornado. The robots were crushed by the pressure within the vacuum created by the tornado. Sonic gave a wild cheer as he spin-dashed through the metallic exterior of another Egg Pawn.

The battle wore on. The crowd cheered the two hedgehogs on as they continued to obliterate the masses of robots. As the Egg Pawns fell, Dr. Eggman's fury rose. "Let's see how you like this!"

Eggman pulled out another remote and pushed a button on it. The ground began to vibrate.

The crowd fell silent. Sonic uncurled from his spin-dash and landed lightly beside Shadow, breathing heavily. Tremors were felt throughout the arena. Something big was coming.

With every step it took, the ground shook. The vibrations pitched Sonic forward, but he managed to catch himself at the last minute.

The footsteps sounded metallic. The approaching thing was definitely a robot. As it drew closer, the tremors became more violent.

Everything went quiet. The footsteps had ceased. Sonic released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and got into a fighting stance. Beside him Shadow did the same.

A huge metallic fist smashed through the wall of the arena, sending dust and rubble flying through the air.

Panicked screams rose from the crowd as they began evacuating the arena (in a not so orderly fashion). The robot stepped through the hole in the ruined wall and scanned the arena, glowing red eyes cold and calculating. Sonic gasped. It was the doomsday robot.

Sonic swallowed his fear and turned to Shadow. "So it's a show he wants, huh?" he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt, "Well then, let's give him a show he'll never forget!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes and dashed towards the robot, Sonic at his heels. The two hedgehogs curled into tight, spiky balls and launched themselves at the robot. The robot put up its force field, both Sonic and Shadow bouncing harmlessly off of it.

The robot's clawed hands morphed into deadly machine guns and began firing off multiple rounds in random directions.

"Quick! We have to draw its fire away from the citizens!" Sonic shouted.

The blue hedgehog then turned to the robot. "Hey! Over here, tin-head!"

The robot stopped firing randomly and instead took aim at Sonic. The Blue Blur dodged around the bullets and spin-dashed at the robot once again, but the robot replaced its shield and deflected Sonic's blow.

Sonic's attack was followed by a multitude of chaos spears from Shadow, but they merely bounced off the field as well. Shadow growled in frustration and launched himself at the robot. Instead of putting up its force field again, the robot morphed one of its machine guns back into a hand and swatted the ebony hedgehog away like an especially annoying fly. Shadow hit the ground hard and was slow to get up.

Sonic spin-dashed the robot again, but his attacks were futile. _This isn't working! We need a new plan, but what?_

**VvVvVvV**

It had started to rain.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes against the pelting drops, trying to get a glimpse at what was happening at the arena.

Lightning struck down somewhere to his left, followed by a large boom of thunder. No matter how loud the storm was, it did nothing to drown out the terrified screams coming from the Egg Dome. What was going on in there?

"Tails, can this thing go any faster?" the echidna shouted over the gusting winds.

The X Tornado lurched forward in reply, steadily gaining speed. Knuckles tightened his grip on the wing.

They were almost there.

**VvVvVvV**

The fight was going nowhere.

No matter what Sonic tried, he couldn't break through the robot's defensive barrier.

Sonic uncurled from his spin-dash and ducked behind a collapsed piece of building. He sat there, trying to catch his breath. Shadow soon limped over and took cover behind the rubble as well.

"Any ideas?" Sonic asked his dark-furred doppelganger. Shadow shook his head.

"Our attacks are too weak to penetrate the shield. We need something stronger."

"Yes, but what?"

Sonic felt a rain drop splash against his head. And then another. A plan was slowly beginning to form in his head.

"Say, Shadow. A robot can be destroyed by water, yes?"

"Hypothetically speaking, yes it could." Shadow replied. "That is, if the robot isn't waterproof."

"Let's hope it isn't."

Shadow turned and eyed the blue-furred hedgehog suspiciously. "What are you thinking?"

"That robot has to recharge its shield after every use, right?" When Shadow nodded, Sonic continued. "So, if one of us got the robot to wear out its force field, the other could destroy the shield's generators! The robot would get rained on, causing it to malfunction. It'd go down, and we'd win!" Sonic was grinning madly once he was finished. "So?"

"That's…not half bad." Shadow said eventually.

Sonic's grin widened. "I knew you'd like it! And the best part is…" Sonic's grin turned into an evil smirk. "…you get to provide the distraction."

"With pleasure."

Shadow grabbed Sonic's non-robotic arm and tossed the hedgehog at the giant robot. Sonic bounced off of the shield but recovered fast and soon began repeatedly attacking the barrier with both spin-dashes and shots from his arm cannon.

As soon as Sonic's attack ceased, Shadow got to work. The dark hedgehog launched a homing attack on the shield's generators, followed by a barrage of chaos spears. The generators were smoking slightly, but were otherwise unharmed.

"How's it going over there?" Sonic called up to Shadow.

"We need more firepower!" the ebony hedgehog called back.

"That's where I come in!"

Both hedgehogs looked up at the sky in shock as a red-furred echidna dropped from the sky, using his dreadlocks to help lower himself safely. Knuckles then dashed at the robot and smashed both spiked fists into the generator.

As the generator exploded, Knuckles and Shadow regrouped with Sonic behind the piece of rubble. Sonic smiled at his old friend. "'Bout time you dropped in Knucklehead."

"Better late than never." Knuckles replied. "So what now?"

"If my hunch is correct, the rain should short-out the robot now that its shield is down."

Knuckles watched as the robot shuffled around the arena, searching for its attackers. "That robot doesn't look short-circuited to me."

"What!? But that plan was sure-fire!"

"Guess not." Knuckles turned back to the two hedgehogs. "Now what?"

"Well, we could keep spin-dashing it." Sonic suggested. "It wasn't working very well before, but it might work now!"

Knuckles looked at Sonic. "Insanity was once defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

"You got any better ideas?" Sonic shot back. Knuckles shook his head. "Then let's go!"

The trio was about to take off when a branch of lightning pierced the clouds, striking the Egg Dome. A section of the wall collapsed, crumbling down right on top of the robot.

Knuckles watched the scene with jaws agape. "If that wasn't an act of God, then I don't know what is."

Shadow nodded, before noticing something. Something very frightening. "Where's Sonic?"

"Wha-" Knuckles' eyes widened when he saw a blue streak dashing towards the falling robot. "Oh no."

Shadow swore.

The two took off after Sonic, Knuckles shouting for him to stop. "Sonic!" he tried again, but the blue hedgehog ignored him and kept running.

He was almost there. He could make it.

Knuckles knew what was going to happen. He knew before it even happened.

_He's not going to make it! He's not fast enough!_

It was an ironic thought, the 'fastest thing alive' not being fast enough. How cruel fate could be.

_There. _ Sonic could see it now. _Almost there, just a little more…_

The robot crashed to the ground.

Sonic was underneath.

"_Sonic!"_

Knuckles and Shadow searched through the wreckage for the blue speedster. They coughed as dust entered their lungs and blinked rain from their eyes (at least, they thought it was rain.), but did not quit searching.

"Over here! Quick!" Shadow called to Knuckles.

The echidna raced over to where the dark hedgehog was and gripped the large chunk of metal in which Shadow was gesturing to. "On the count of three. One…two…three!"

The two anthros lifted the heavy scrap metal with loud grunts. Knuckles released the steel and ducked under it to pull Sonic's limp body from the wreckage. When Shadow was sure Sonic was out, he let the metal fall back to the ground with a loud clank.

Knuckles cradled his injured friend in his arms. "You stupid hedgehog." He whispered. "Why would you do this?"

"Because of this."

Shadow had wandered a little ways off and returned carrying something small. Knuckles looked up and saw a young sapient hedgehog nestled in the Ultimate Lifeform's arms. A small smile appeared on the echidna's face. "Is he alright?"

Shadow nodded. "Traumatized, but otherwise fine."

Knuckles nodded. "Good. I'm calling Tails to pick us up."

Knuckles shifted Sonic's body to free the echidna's right arm. He pressed the button on the communicator. "We're ready to go Tails. Come get us. And hurry. We have a casualty."

"_Who?_" came the young fox's voice.

"…Sonic."

Yes, how cruel fate could be.

* * *

**And how cruel I can be! Sorry for the long wait! I hope this chapter was worth it!**

**Dang, I am getting so good at cliffhangers, it should be illegal! At least this chapter had a bit of humor in it. **

**Thank you so much to the following people who reviewed last chapter: BlackSandHeart, Lordoftheghostking28, Nightmare the Dragon, TammyHybrid21, and Gnat1.**

**I don't have anything interesting to say. How about you guys?**

**Shadow: Nope.**

**Knuckles: Nadda.**

**Sonic: Wait, did I...die?**

**Silver: I have a question!**

**Me: Silver!? Why are you here? You're not even in this story!**

**Silver: Because you love me!**

**Me: less so the longer you stay in this A/N. *sighs* what's your question?**

**Silver: What weighs more, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers?**

**Sonic: I'm serious guys! Am I dead or what?**

**Me: *ignores Sonic.* Ok readers, you know what to do! Leave a review and answer Silver's stupid question!**


	9. IX: Run

**All Characters are property of SEGA/Sonic Team.**

**IX: Run**

"_Run and hide again_

_Don't run away this time_

_Don't wonder why you can't clear this final sin_

_You know this story was over before it began_

_This is a battle you're not going to win_

_Welcome to the end" _

–Disturbed "_Run_"

It was a nightmare.

Knuckles sat, clutching Sonic to his chest for what felt like hours as he waited for Tails to arrive. In reality, it had only been a minute.

The X Tornado landed a little ways off. Knuckles dashed to the plane, going as fast as he dared with an injured hedgehog in his arms. Shadow followed close at his heels.

Upon reaching the Tornado, Shadow set the small hedgehog in Tails' lap, much to the fox' surprise. Shadow then jumped into the passenger's seat before Tails had a chance to ask about it.

Knuckles gently handed Sonic's limp form to Shadow. After making sure his blue friend was safe and secure, Knuckles hopped onto the plane's wing and held on tight.

The X Tornado took off, Tails trying to fly the plane as gently as he could.

A small whimper escaped Sonic's lips. His eyes fluttered open and closed as he tried to whisper something. "S-sha…"

He was cut off by coughs racking his body. When the coughs subsided, scarlet flecks painted his muzzle. Shadow silently cursed in his head as he wiped the blood away. _He's bleeding internally! _Out loud he tried to calm Sonic. "Shh, just rest."

Sonic was not finished yet. He needed to say something. He may not have had much time left.

"S-sha…I forg-give you…"

Shadow had to take a minute to process this. Sonic forgave him? For What?

Something clicked in Shadow's mind. His eyes widened. For turning him in to the Doctor… Sonic had forgiven him!

Sonic had lapsed back into unconsciousness, his breathing slow and shallow. The faintest trace of a smile ghosted Shadow's lips. "Thank you."

Moments later the X Tornado was landing on a small airstrip on Angel Island. As soon as the plane stopped moving Knuckles was at the cockpit taking the unconscious form of Sonic from Shadow's arms before racing off into the make-shift village in which the anthros had taken refuge. Shadow was on his heels, leaving Tails to deal with the young hedgehog on his lap. It was better that way. Tails needed the distraction.

Knuckles dashed into the tent that served as the village's infirmary. One of the nurses saw him and immediately began shouting orders to the staff before gesturing for Knuckles to place Sonic on one of the cots. Knuckles did so, and was ushered out of the tent afterwards.

He and Shadow both waited outside of the tent, nerves nearly reaching their breaking points.

But the nightmare was not over yet.

A needle was inserted into Sonic's hand, the IV dripping precious fluids into his veins. The tent was filled with shouted orders.

"Get the ECG over here!"

"Patient is showing signs of head trauma. Left leg is broken. Possible chest injury."

"Oxygen mask, stat!"

"We need an x-ray of his chest!"

"That'll take too long!"

"Oh gosh…he's not breathing! Hurry up with that mask!"

The unsteady blips from the ECG turned into one flat tone.

"He's flat lining!"

"CLEAR!"

Shadow and Knuckles could hear the muffled shouts coming from within the tent. Knuckles paced back and forth, shooting anxious glances at the tent and wringing his hands. Shadow sat on one of the crudely made log benches just outside the entrance with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest.

They stayed outside the tent for countless hours waiting, hoping that by some miracle their spiky blue friend would pull through.

Vanilla and Cream stopped by. They knew they wouldn't be able to convince either of the two males to go home and get some rest, so they instead brought them a couple of blankets and pillows as well as a warm meal to eat. The echidna and hedgehog accepted the gifts gratefully, ravenously devouring the meal. They hadn't eaten well in days.

A few nurses who were not occupied by Sonic came out to inspect Knuckles and Shadow's wounds. They were given antibiotics to ward off further infection and replaced the bloodied bandages with crisp, clean white ones.

Morning had just broken, the sun barely peeking above the horizon, when the head nurse exited the tent. Her face was a mask of exhaustion, but there was some other emotion underlying her fatigued features.

Knuckles greeted the nurse. She was a light brown mink with kind hazel eyes. "I don't know how he did it, but he did it." She told Knuckles, a smile gracing her lips.

Shadow's ears perked at this, and he too stood to listen to what the nurse had to say. The mink continued. "We almost lost him a couple of times, but he's stable now. He has a minor concussion, a broken leg, and two cracked ribs." She told them. "We were lucky none of his vital organs were damaged. If so, he most likely would not have lasted the plane ride over."

"And the internal bleeding?" Shadow prompted. "I saw him cough up blood."

"Yes, but it was nothing we couldn't handle." The nurse responded.

Knuckles sighed in relief and relaxed for what felt like the first time that week. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"It was nothing compared to what Sonic has done for us… all of us." She looked back towards the tent. "He's sleeping soundly now, but you can come see him if you would like."

"Please."

Knuckles and Shadow followed the mink into the tent. The nurse led them past several empty cots to the rear of the makeshift hospital. The area was blocked off by a single light blue curtain. The nurse pulled back the curtain and allowed the echidna and hedgehog to enter. Once inside, she let the curtain fall closed, leaving the two males alone in that small area.

Well, almost alone.

In this small area was a single cot, and on that cot lay a blue hedgehog.

In Sonic's left hand, a needle was inserted into his vein. The needle was connected to a plastic tube, which in turn was connected to an IV that sat at his bedside. Accompanying the IV were countless other machines Knuckles couldn't even begin to identify. One of the machines, he knew, monitored Sonic's heart rate. The blips of the machine were to a much steadier rhythm than the previous day. There was also a breathing apparatus sitting next to the bed, though this was currently not in use.

Much to Knuckles' relief, the robotic pieces that had encased Sonic's limbs had been removed. The fur beneath was dull and coarse.

"Robotnik's getting lazy with his roboticizer." Shadow observed.

Knuckles nodded. "And for that, I am thankful."

The echidna pulled a chair up next to Sonic's cot and gently took his friend's hand into his own. Shadow still stood by the curtain, feeling awkward and alien in this situation. Before long he quietly excused himself and exited the tent.

Knuckles stroked Sonic's hand gently, watching his spiky blue friend as he peacefully slept. "I don't know whether to praise you or pummel you."

Knuckles shook his head. "You _stupid _hedgehog. Why would you do something so reckless? Why risk life and limb for a creature in which you've never met? I know… I know what you'd say; 'Because that's what heroes do'." A small smile crept onto his face. "I don't know how you do it. You always make playing hero seem so simple. But I guess it really isn't simple. It's dangerous, full of risks…" Knuckles chuckled softly. "But saving all those lives and helping all those people… It's worth it, isn't it?"

The smile vanished from his face as he sighed. "No, it wasn't your fault Blue. This mess we're in… this is Eggman's fault."

Knuckles withdrew his hand and clenched it into a fist, his eyes narrowing in determination. "Eggman will pay for this, for all the pain and destruction brought down on this world. I promise."

**VvVvVvV**

_ Why am I doing this? _Tails asked himself as he struggled to keep the young hedgehog from uprooting the few frail flowers in Vanilla's small garden.

_Oh yeah, distraction. _He thought bitterly. _Just something to keep me from thinking about Sonic. _Tails sighed. _Maybe it is for the best._

Ever since the fox's older brother had been admitted to the infirmary, worst case scenarios danced through Tails' mind. What if he injured his legs and could never run again? What if he was paralyzed? What if he died?

Tears began to build in Tails' eyes at these horrible thoughts.

The young fox yelped in a mix of surprise and pain as the child hedgehog yanked on one of his twin tails. The hedgehog grasped the fox kit's tail and began to play with it as if it were a doll of some sort. With a soft grunt, Tails pulled his rear appendage free of the hoglet's grip. The hedgehog's eyes widened in shock and his bottom lip trembled. Tails began to panic as he knew what was to come next.

"No, no, no, please don't…"

Too late. The little hedgehog tipped his head back towards the sky and released an ear-splitting cry, tears tumbling from his eyes.

"…cry" Tails finished lamely.

It was early in the morning, the sky painted shades of pink and blue. The majority of the village was still asleep. At least, they used to be asleep.

Amy charged out of the tent that served as a home for her, Cream, and Vanilla. With an exasperated huff she picked up the hedgehog and cradled him in her arms. Amy calmed the squalling child by talking calmly to him and rocking him gently back and forth, lulling him to sleep.

Amy shot a glare at Tails and retreated into the tent, but not before muttering something about "men and incompetence". Tails sighed, thankful of being relieved of the "tiny terror".

The fox noticed a dark shape approaching. He recognized Shadow, who seemed a lot less tense and maybe even a little happy, though his face remained as passive as ever. Hope surged in Tails' heart.

Tails looked up at Shadow, his eyes alight with an unasked question. The ebony hedgehog nodded. "It was close, but Sonic is alright. Only minor injuries."

Tails' fur bristled with excitement. "Can I go see him?"

Shadow looked uncertain. "He's still asleep, but I suppose it couldn't hurt…"

No sooner than Shadow had uttered that final statement had Tails dashed towards the infirmary, nearly breaking the sound barrier in his haste.

Shadow puffed a breath from his nose and shook his head in annoyance, though deep down he was greatly amused.

Later that day, Knuckles found himself sitting just outback of Vanilla's tent at a small rickety table. Shadow sat across from him. Knuckles had a glass of cool water sitting next to him and a large sheet of paper in front of him.

"Eggman's factories usually have the same layout." Knuckles said as he began a rough sketch on the paper. "Entrances are usually here, to the north. There's a maze of hallways afterwards, some leading to the main production room, others leading to the outside. They're there to confuse trespassers." Knuckles drew out all the hallways he could remember, before drawing a large rectangle for the production room.

"To the left of that room," he continued, "is an armory. To the right is his personal quarters, I believe." He sketched the aforementioned places. "And north of his quarters, his main office. That's most likely where he'll be." Knuckles circled the square that represented the office.

"That's all fine and dandy," Shadow imposed, "but how do we get to the doctor? He's not exactly stingy with the guards."

"I was getting to that." Knuckles sketched out some random lines. "His factories always have a very convenient ventilation system. There should be shafts leading into every room, and grates to allow easy entrance and exit." Knuckles circled the areas in which he supposed there would be grates. "We can use these to get to Eggman."

Shadow nodded. "And when we do get to him, what do you suggest we do then?"

Knuckles pursed his lips and tapped the end of his pencil on the table. "How's the arm?"

"Huh?" Shadow looked down to his bandaged arm. "It's healing normally. My immune system must have overcome whatever poison may have been on Sonic's blade.

Shadow suddenly whipped his gaze up and glared at Knuckles accusingly. "You changed the subject!"

Knuckles sipped his water nonchalantly. "Did I?"

Shadow shook his head in disbelief. "What's the plan?"

"Well… you see…"

"You have no plan, do you?"

Knuckles rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I wouldn't say that…I sort of have one."

"Alright then," Shadow crossed his arms challengingly. "Dazzle me, echidna."

"We could always…" Knuckles mumbled something incomprehensible.

"What was that?"

"Play it by ear." Knuckles said quietly.

"Wing it." Shadow deadpanned.

Knuckles shrugged. "It hasn't failed us before."

"We are not going over this again." Shadow sighed.

Knuckles crossed his arms. "You brought it up."

"You are so…" Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I don't have the patience to argue with you echidna…"

"So don't!" Knuckles stood up from the table, nearly knocking his chair over in the process. "We've dealt Eggman a large blow in disabling his fancy robot! It's going to take forever to get that thing running again! We have to act upon this chance now! We'll never get another one like it!"

Shadow eyed the floor plan Knuckles had drawn up before sighing. "I'm going to regret this…"

"It'll be worth it, trust me." Knuckles gathered up his things. "Now, we're going to need ski masks and a grappling hook…"

"I don't like where this is going."

**VvVvVvV**

Night had fallen, sparse light reflecting off the crescent moon that hung high in the sky. A chilly breeze swept through the land, stirring up tiny dust devils and brittle leaves. No stars were present that night.

Two dark shapes stole across the land, sticking to the long shadows cast by a bulky steel building. The figures pasted themselves to the wall as a stocky sentry bot passed. The sentry bot scanned the area, but fortunately for the two figures the scan did not sweep wide enough to detect them.

Once the sentry had disappeared around a corner, one of the figures, a fiery red echidna, turned towards his companion and gestured with his hands. First he held up three fingers, or rather, tried to hold up three fingers but could not because he was wearing large boxing glove-like mitts. He then tapped his chest, silently clapped his hands, and imitated someone climbing a ladder of some sort. As his companion cocked his head to the side, the echidna pointed up towards the roof and then flicked his own nose.

"What?" the second figure, an ebony and crimson hedgehog, whispered.

The echidna, who we know as Knuckles, rolled his eyes before whispering his plan to the hedgehog. However, his words were muffled by the thick black ski mask he wore.

"Huh?" Shadow had not worn a ski mask like his companion, reason being his fur was already dark and he didn't want to look like a complete idiot.

Another roll of the eyes. The echidna pulled the ski mask from his face and repeated himself. "On the count of three, I'll throw my grappling hook up there, and we'll climb towards the vent."

The hedgehog nodded. Knuckles turned towards the building and smirked. "Queue the intense spy music." Shadow face palmed.

With a slight grunt Knuckles tossed the hook end of the grappling hook onto the roof. It skittered along the tin roofing before finally catching on the edge. Giving the rope a tug to test it, Knuckles nodded to Shadow and the two made their way up the rope.

Knuckles made it to the vent first and ripped the grating from the wall. Having no place to put the grate, Knuckles let it drop to the ground. It landed on the ground with a soft _thump_. Knuckles braced himself for the sentry bots that had surely heard, but to his great relief none came. Gesturing to Shadow to follow, the echidna made his way into the vent.

It was stifling inside the vents, the shafts dispersing the warm air throughout the factory. Sweat began to bead on his fur as he crawled along the network of tunnels. Before long the two anthros came to an intersection. Knuckles gazed down each of the darkness shrouded tunnels. The blackness of the tunnels gave no hints as to what lay at their ends. Finding eyesight useless, Knuckles scented the air. The smell of oil and smoke wafted down from the tunnel to the echidna's right, while the tunnel to the left brought the clean aromas of the outdoors. His instincts screamed at him to go left, towards freedom and fresh air, but Knuckles knew their goal lay at the end of the right tunnel.

Shadow shifted behind Knuckles impatiently, and was about to say something when Knuckles muttered. "Right…we go right."

Knuckles turned down the aforementioned tunnel with Shadow following close behind. The putrid scent of oil and smoke grew stronger, making Knuckles gag as it wafted into his nose and mouth. Finally reaching another vent, Knuckles peered through the grating and saw that they were just over top of the main production room. The robot assembly line was currently shut down for the night, the machines humming silently in standby mode.

Knuckles and Shadow carried on down the cramped vent shaft. They took a left at the next set of intersecting tunnels and soon found themselves at a dead end. The vent ended with a grate set into its wall. The grate was much larger than the others they had come across.

Peering out, Knuckles saw that they were suspended above a short hallway. The hallway was mostly bare, save for the large double doors at the far end. The bulky doors barred the ugly red insignia of Dr. Eggman's gruesome face.

"Looks like this is where we make our exit." Knuckles whispered back to Shadow.

The echidna pried the grating from the vent's wall and set it to the side. He then gently lowered himself through the opening and dropped to the ground. As soon as he landed, Knuckles dashed to the wall, hiding himself in the shadows. Shadow followed suit, dashing to the wall opposite of Knuckles.

The two stayed there for a while, not daring to move nor breathe. Minutes passed, and nothing happened. Knuckles nodded to Shadow before turning and making his way to the door.

The final showdown was about to begin.

* * *

**Woo! Another chapter done! I started this chapter right after finishing the last one thinking that I'd get it done super fast and have a quick update. Writer's Block had other ideas however. Oh well. Chapter's up and it's a long one! I've noticed that the chapters are getting very long. I was just wondering, are you guys ok with that? Usually chapters are somewhere around 1500 words but these are getting anywhere from 2000-3000 words. Do you like long chapters or would you rather have shorter ones? Let me know!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter; BlackSandHeart, Gnat1, TammyHybrid21, ike, Lordoftheghostking28 (who put me under arrest for illegal-ly awesome cliffhangers), Whisper, EvilChalkBoard (nice name!), Super-sonic Iblish, and Starkage the Dragon!**

**Thanks for readin' yall! See ya next chapter!**

**And please, be a lamb and leave a review!**


	10. X: The Measure of Strength

**All characters belong to Sonic Team.**

**X: The Measure of Strength**

"_Destroy my pain_

_Then capture life again_

_Destroy my shame_

_Can't live my life this way" _

_-_Evans Blue_ "This Time it's Different"_

The heavy double doors swung open, the hinges screaming in protest as wood violently met plaster walls. Startled by the sudden noise, a large rotund man looked up from his work towards the disturbance. Surprise flashed briefly across his face when his eyes settled on the red echidna that stood before him. The surprise was soon masked by a steady nonchalant gaze.

"Would it have been too much of a bother to knock?" the doctor asked in a deadpan tone.

"I apologize." Knuckles retorted sarcastically.

Eggman's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "You're in no position for mockery, echidna." he warned. The doctor leaned back in the large, black leather office chair he sat in. "I see you're alone. Was my robot too much for that pesky blue pincushion to handle?"

Knuckles glared as the evil genius smiled and chuckled slightly. "I'm so sorry for your loss!" Robotnik continued sarcastically.

A small smirk spread across Knuckles' face. "Really? Then you'll be glad to know that Sonic is alive and well."

Eggman's smile disappeared. "Is that so? Where is our blue _friend_ then?"

"Enough talk." Knuckles avoided the question. He didn't want to reveal the battered state of the cerulean hero to his worst enemy. "It's time to end this feud Robotnik. You've terrorized this planet for far too long." Knuckles cracked his namesake threateningly. "Have a nice stay in Hell!"

With this said the crimson echidna launched himself at the mad scientist. Anticipating this straightforward attack, Robotnik managed to wriggle his large girth out of harm's way, Knuckles landing gracefully behind him.

Eggman glanced back at Knuckles and smirked. "Is that all?"

Knuckles returned the smirk. "Not quite."

The Guardian back flipped over the doctor, and as soon as his feet hit the ground he charged again. Just as he did last time, Robotnik predicted this attack and dodged easily, but what he didn't expect was a second fist crashing into his jaw. Eggman's head snapped painfully sideways, the force of this attack sending him toppling sideways and crashing into a small cabinet beside his desk.

Eggman rubbed his screaming jaw and glared up into the smug crimson eyes of the Ultimate Lifeform. "So you decided to show up. After all that I have done for you, you still choose to oppose me. I even gave you an emerald!"

Shadow disinterestedly adjusted the cuff of his glove. "The emerald was a fake."

"So it was." as the doctor said this simple statement, he slowly began to reach backwards into the toppled cabinet. Knuckles noticed this and regarded the scientist warily because of it. What was he planning?

Having seemingly found whatever he was looking for, Eggman spoke again. "I suppose you both will try and destroy me now."

"It has to be done." was Knuckles' even reply.

Both the hedgehog and echidna edged forward as a smirk spread across the face of the rotund man. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Shadow decided to make the first move. Charging up a chaos spear, the dark hedgehog charged at Eggman.

Faster than anyone would think possible for a man of his stature, Robotnik whipped a small object out from behind his back. It was a ray gun of sorts; red and yellow in color and barely larger than the scientist's hand.

Shadow disregarded this childish weapon and continued his assault, more and more energy gathering into his hand. Robotnik's smirk only widened. Just as Shadow was about to launch the spear, Eggman pulled the trigger.

A small stream of teal colored energy shot from the gun, striking the Ultimate Lifeform in the chest. Shadow's eyes widened in surprise and he gasped in pain. His assault immediately ceased, the energy in his hand fizzling and dying out.

Knuckles watched, eyes wide with shock, as one of the strongest beings ever created dropped to his knees, one eye closed in pain and gasping for air. Another spasm of pain overtook the Ultimate Lifeform and he collapsed to cold floor.

Knuckles noticed a small black object caught in the tuft of fur on the dark hedgehog's chest. It sent out a constant stream of the teal energy. If he could get rid of that little bug…

"Works well, wouldn't you say?" Robotnik asked as he continued to watch with sadistic glee as the dark hedgehog squirmed on the ground in agony.

A low growl erupted from the echidna's throat as the ebony hedgehog finally laid still, lapsing into unconsciousness. With an old battle cry Knuckles leapt at Eggman, but the egg-shaped scientist was ready for him. The doctor aimed and fired his lethal weapon at the oncoming echidna.

The dark black bug struck his chest, followed by a beam of teal energy. Knuckles felt as though every ounce of air had been torn from his body. The emerald Guardian stopped mid stride and clutched at his chest as he struggled to breathe.

Next came the pain. Like a tonne of bricks it descended on Knuckles, crushing his body and enveloping him in agony. He gritted his teeth so hard they could've shattered, and resisted the urge to cry out.

"How does it feel, Knuckles? Painful enough for you?" The mad scientist taunted. Knuckles narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He _couldn't _say anything. The pain was too much.

"You see Knuckles, this weapon was designed to fire off a special energy that neutralizes that of the chaos emeralds. This energy not only cancels out the chaos energies, it also renders the body unable to absorb more power. You can see how fatal this can be for a creature who survives solely on chaos energy." Robotnik gestured to Shadow's motionless body and erupted into a fit of cruel laughter.

"All creatures of your type rely on chaos for energy, whether you realize it or not. It is not a main source of power and therefore their bodies do not depend on or use it as much and are relatively unaffected. However, the more a creature channels the energy, the more dependant their body becomes on it. How many times have you used the Master Emerald Knuckles?"

Knuckles growled as the pain brought him crashing to his knees. The anti-chaos energy encased his body once again, burning at his fur and flesh as it greedily sucked the sacred energies from his body.

Robotnik knelt down so that he was face-to-face with the struggling echidna and whispered, "_You_ have a nice stay in Hell."

The room was filled with Eggman's maniacal laughter. That was the last thing Knuckles heard before finally succumbing to the darkness.

**VvVvVvV**

White light. That's all that he could see. An unending expanse of the pure light tint surrounded him. He wasn't even able to discern ground from sky. But the pain was gone, that was good.

Knuckles stood out like a beacon amidst the stark white landscape. He glanced around, searching for anything that would clue him in as to where he was. "Hello? Anyone there?"

"Emerald Guardian…"

Knuckles spun around at the sound of a deep voice, but he did not see anyone. "Who…? Where are…?"

"Behind you."

Knuckles turned again and gasped as a figure shimmered into existence before him. The figure was a tall, bright red echidna with a small white beard growing from his chin. The echidna had bushy white eyebrows to match the beard, and also sported slim silver bands around a few of his dreadlocks.

Knuckles' eyes widened in shock, "F-father?"

Locke the Echidna smiled at his son. "Greetings Knuckles."

"But how… why…?"

Locke shook his head. "There's no time for an explanation. We must make haste."

Knuckles cocked his head. "But, I thought…"

"Knuckles!"

Knuckles spun around as yet another figure appeared from thin air. This time it was a very familiar tangerine colored echidna with cobalt eyes.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes in confusion as he looked at Tikal. "Am I dead?"

Tikal shook her head. "But you may be soon if we do not hurry."

"She is right." Locke said. "You're energy levels are falling drastically. You must break free of the energy binding you if you want to survive."

Knuckles bowed his head in shame. "I… I can't."

Locke leaned forwards slightly. "What was that?"

"I said I can't!" Knuckles shouted, raising his head to regard the two other echidnas. "I'm not strong enough! I was never strong enough! All those battles…I was always sitting on the sidelines. I can't protect anyone! Heck, I can't even guard a shiny rock for chaos sakes! I'm not cut out for saving the world. I'm not strong."

Tikal reached a hand out. "Knuckles…"

"No." Knuckles' voice had dropped to barely above a whisper. "These feelings of hope I had… they were a lie…tricks of the mind… illusions…" Knuckles lowered his head once again. "Forgive me, for I have failed you."

A smack. "Fool!"

Knuckles' head shot up and he clutched his cheek were Locke had slapped him.

"You are an echidna, my son! We are a powerful race! If not by physical strength, then by our iron wills and mental endurance! We do not give up after minor drawbacks! The entire Echidnae civilization was not built in a day. We had to work. We had to get knocked down and get back up. Not once did we ever doubt our strength!"

A harsh laugh escaped Knuckles' mouth. "And look where those "iron wills" and "mental endurance" got you. You're all dead!"

Another slap. "You are not listening!" Locke's eyes burned with anger, yet he still managed to keep his voice calm when he said, "Knuckles, you must understand that strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. The difference between success and failure is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

"Please Knuckles!" Tikal spoke up. "You must stop Robotnik! If not, many more lives will be lost!"

As she spoke these words a small breeze picked up. It stirred the echidnas' dreadlocks as it made its journey. With the wind came the appearance of dozens upon dozens of ancient Echidnae figures. Knuckles gasped and stared in awe at his ancient Guardian predecessors.

"Emerald Guardian, we all believe in you. Why do you not believe in yourself?" one of the echidnas, a burly red-orange fellow, asked.

"I…" Knuckles' words died in his throat. He sighed, bowing his head again. "You're right. You're all right."

Knuckles raised his head towards the ranks of past Guardians, at his father, and at Tikal. His hands were clenched into fists and his violet eyes blazed with determination. "I am an echidna. I am strong, and with this strength I shall defeat Robotnik and clear the world of his poisonous influence!"

Cheers erupted in the ranks of Ancients. Tikal grinned and clasped her hands together while Locke smiled proudly at his son.

"Now then Knuckles." Locke ended the cheering. "It is time. Wake up Guardian, and face this evil!"

Knuckles nodded seriously and closed his eyes. He gritted his teeth as he tried to fight against the restraining energies. Slowly, the image of Knuckles began to shimmer.

As the Emerald Guardian faded out from this plain of existence, Locke whispered softly, "Good luck, my son."

* * *

**The wait was long, but I hope this chapter satisfied. I had exams to study for, and then had to write them. I studied a lot though, so hopefully I passed. I'm not sure though. My math teacher said she's never had someone pass one of her exams before. I think she was lying. The exam wasn't _that _hard. Or maybe I'm just smart he he he!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! It means a lot to me! When I was planning and writing this chapter a quote from the movie "Barnyard" kept popping into my head: "_A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others." _-Ben**

**Sorry if Locke or Tikal are ooc. I don't know all that much about them. **

**Want to learn a fun fact about this chapter and one about the last chapter? Originally this was going to be a vision inside Shadow's head in which he was talking to Maria and Sonic but I thought that stole attention from Knuckles (this is a Knuckles oriented story afterall) and was too cliche. Now, why would Shadow have a vision of Sonic? Because in the first draft of last chapter, Sonic died while fighting the robot. o.o And that little hedgehog that he saved was a last minute plot device. **


	11. XI: I Will Remain

**All characters are property of SEGA.**

**XI: I Will Remain**

"_Conquer the weakness_

_Work through the pain_

_I can't be defeated_

_I will remain" _

-Egypt Central "_Kick Ass"_

Eggman's laughter faded as he returned to his desk. Things were going according to plan. He had known the two foolish creatures would confront him, and he had been prepared. He had created that special ray gun just for this occasion. Two of the world's defenders were now incapacitated, and the blue hedgehog would more than likely be in rough shape if he hadn't shown up with the others, so the doctor knew he wouldn't be too much of a problem. The Eggman Empire was now completely unchallenged. There was simply no one left to oppose him. Robotnik would finally be able to rule the world with an iron fist for all of eternity, or so he liked to believe.

Eggman's head snapped up at the sound of a soft grunt. The echidna's fists were clenching and unclenching as he fought for consciousness. His eyelids fluttered, and finally opened slightly.

With a mighty heave Knuckles pushed himself up to his knees, and then with a final grunt, he stood up. Smirking triumphantly, Knuckles tore the black bug from his chest and let it drop to the ground, crushing it under his foot.

With eyes that burned as brightly as his fur, the echidna approached the evil doctor at a deliberately slow, menacing pace. Eggman did not panic. Knuckles may have fought the first round of life-draining energy, but his body would be too weak now to be able to take any more. Robotnik raised the ray gun and pointed it at the oncoming echidna's chest. This only made Knuckles' smirk widen.

Angry, but still unafraid, Eggman pulled the trigger. Faster than the eye could see, Knuckles dodged the energy blast, and before the gun could recharge and fire another shot, the echidna attacked the doctor.

Knuckles' fist collided with the mad scientist's abdomen, forcing the wind from his lungs as he was sent flying backwards into the wall. Robotnik wiped blood from his chin as Knuckles approached again. The first inklings of fear invaded Eggman's calm persona.

Knuckles sent another fist flying towards the doctor's head. More out of a survival instinct than a conscious decision, Eggman flopped away from the attack, but this feeble dodge inevitably left the doctor wide open. His assailant was a smart fighter, and he quickly capitalized on this opportunity.

Knuckles spun and sent a mighty Chuck Norris approved roundhouse kick into the side of the evil scientist's head. Eggman's pupils shrunk to pinpricks from the pain and he gasped. Crashing hard to his side, the doctor lay still on the ground, but Knuckles knew he was not dead yet.

Knowing that the doctor would be of no trouble for a while, Knuckles turned towards his dark companion still lying immobile on the floor. Flipping the hedgehog over onto his back, the echidna tugged the tiny black bug free of Shadow's fur and crushed it within his hand. It would still take a moment for the Ultimate Lifeform to regain enough energy to enter consciousness again, but Knuckles knew they had the time.

The crimson echidna noticed that Robotnik had dropped the energy-draining gun during the assault. Knuckles walked over to the gun. He lifted his foot and stomped down on, grinding the metal and circuitry into the ground.

"You… you haven't won this… yet."

Knuckles turned at the sound of the doctor's voice. Eggman continued between heaving breaths.

"I… will not be… defeated." Robotnik feebly lifted a small remote control with a single red button on it. With dark, ragged laughter the evil doctor pressed the button.

Silence; as if the entire world was holding its breath for what was to happen. Nothing moved and no one dared speak, as if the silence was sacred in its self.

The ground vibrated, tremors growing stronger as the metallic abomination approached. Rocks rattled and the metallic footsteps echoed off of the mountains and in valleys that surrounded the factory. Soon, everything grew still and silent.

This silence was shattered as a large leg smashed through the roof of the office, sending plaster crumbling and dust and metal raining down on the creatures beneath. Knuckles shielded his eyes from the dust as the large robot retracted its foot, staring down on its victims with dull red optics.

As the dust cleared, Knuckles noticed that the doctor had made his escape amongst the destruction. He now hovered in his small aircraft at the doomsday robot's shoulder. A cruel grin lined his face.

"Slaughter them." The doctor hissed venomously. "Show no mercy."

The robot's eyes began to glow brighter, almost as if it was excited at the prospect of shedding blood. Knuckles growled and shifted his feet into a fighter's stance. The guardian braced himself as the robot lashed out with a bulky arm and _grasped Eggman's aircraft._

The doctor spluttered and gasped in fear as his own creation turned against him. "N-no! I command you cease this attack this instant!"

"Negative." came the robot's monotone voice.

"W-what!?"

The robot drew its arm back, preparing to hurtle the evil doctor to his doom. With seemingly no effort the robot sent Eggman screaming to the ground, smashing a brand new hole in the roof of the complex. Knuckles could only watch in shock and horror as Robotnik collided with the ground, tumbling out of his aircraft upon impact.

The robot looked down on his pitiful master with cold eyes as it stepped into the building, crushing the tiny aircraft beneath its hulking foot. The robot then reached into the building and grasped Eggman in its wiry metallic hand. Eggman cried out in fear and pain as the robot lifted its former master up to eyelevel, tightening its hand as it prepared to squeeze the life out of the man. The doctor's eyes bulged and he gasped for the precious air being forced from his body. "Help! H-help me!"

Knuckles hesitated. On one hand, there was a man about to be slaughtered by a maniacal robot. On the other hand, this man was a tyrant who was responsible for the oppression clouding this world. He had killed many people, but did the man deserve to die? Did anyone _deserve _to die?

He had made his choice. Eggman may have been evil, but Knuckles was not going to stand around and let him die. That would make him no better than the egg-shaped man. Gathering his courage, Knuckles made to attack the 'bot. However, Knuckles' musings, his moment of hesitation, had taken too long.

The robot closed its hand, the evil scientist in its grasp letting out a strangled cry of pain and terror as his body was crushed. His cries faded out as the life was forced from his body, and he finally grew still. The robot disinterestedly tossed the lifeless body aside as if it were nothing more than a lousy piece of rubbish. Gazing in through the partially collapsed roof, the robot's cynical red orbs came to rest on Knuckles, still frozen in shock at the doctor's untimely demise. With a calm, calculative nature, the robot morphed its arms and hands into lethal machine guns and aimed at the immobile echidna.

Knuckles rolled to the side just as a stream of bullets tore past, embedding themselves into the walls and floor where the echidna had been only moments before. Barely getting time to catch his breath, Knuckles dashed out of the way as another onslaught of bullets made their presence in the building. Knuckles dove as a stray bullet ricocheted off of a metal pole towards his head. Shaky and gasping for the precious oxygen stolen from his lungs upon impact with the ground, Knuckles ducked behind a slab of collapsed roof.

The robot scanned the area for the enemy life form, but the bulky 'bot was made for wanton destruction, not search and find. Its major downfall was the weakness of its scanners, which could barely detect any presences through the wood and steel of the building.

Hearing the _whoosh _of misplaced air, Knuckles turned to see Shadow had crouched down next to him. "Have a nice nap?" he asked the dark hedgehog.

Shadow merely 'hmphed' in reply. "What happened while I was out?"

"Robotnik's robot turned renegade. Attacked the doctor too."

"And the doctor…?" the Ultimate Lifeform prompted.

Knuckles gestured with his head in a "see for yourself" manner towards the carnage that lay beyond their hiding spot. Shadow poked his head out, his eyes widening in surprise when they fell upon Eggman's motionless body. Shadow returned to his former position as Knuckles stole a glance at the evil robot.

"Robots are normally unable to feel emotion, yet this one looks seriously peeved." Knuckles observed. "Where's Rouge the 'Bot Whisperer when you need her?"

Currently searching the robot for any obvious weak points, Shadow didn't reply. He could see that the robot was pretty banged up from its previous beating, its metal exterior covered in dents and scratches from the building that had collapsed on it. The robot didn't put up its protective shield when Knuckles threw an experimental rock at it, so the damage they had inflicted upon the shield's generators must not have been fully repaired. Of course, this little test caused the two anthros to reveal their position to the killer robot. Morphing its hands once again, the robot levelled two powerful arm blasters at the debris his targets had taken refuge behind.

Knuckles and Shadow leapt from the range of fire just as the ceiling block they had been hiding behind exploded in a mass of flame and chunks of plaster and steel. The two anthros were forced into more evasive maneuvers as a stream of bullets tore past, followed by shots from the robot's arm blasters. Finally finding shelter behind an overturned table, the two heroes stopped to catch their breath.

"We have to get closer to it." Knuckles stated. "We can't do anything from this far away."

Shadow narrowed his eyes and made a mad dash towards the robot. The flames from his hover shoes scorched the wooden floor as he skated at break neck speeds. With a slight grunt, Shadow stopped and nimbly back flipped out of the way as a ball of hot energy struck the ground in front of him. Annoyed but not deterred, Shadow resumed his dash, bounding agilely through a hole in one of the walls to the outside world. He swerved across the dusty ground, dodging the robot's attacks swiftly and easily. Finally seeing his chance, Shadow rolled into a tight ball and launched like a rocket towards the offending robot.

The robot calmly lifted its arm and levelled it with the oncoming ball of spikes. With cool calculation the robot fired a single ball of crackling energy. The ball collided with Shadow, knocking him back through the building.

Maintaining his spin-dash, Shadow bounced harmlessly off the ground and landed just in front of Knuckles. He was breathing hard, his eyes narrowed and fangs barred angrily at the robot. With a feral growl of pure fury Shadow took off again, but this time Knuckles grabbed his arm and yanked him back. Shadow spun on Knuckles. "What was that for?"

"This 'bot is strong." Knuckles observed. "We're going to need a little extra help."

Shadow looked confused, and was about to question the echidna on his cryptic statement when he noticed that Knuckles was not looking at him, but at something just behind him. Shadow turned around, his gaze resting on a vault that resided at the far end of the room. The door to the vault had been obliterated by the masses of attacks that rocked the building, and just past the ruined door lay seven sparkling gems. A small smirk appeared on the dark hedgehog's face.

**VvVvVvV**

The sky was black as ink. The iridescent stars were hidden behind the dark grey clouds that covered the sky. The moon did not show its face, as if it were too afraid of the evil and tyranny on the planet below. Amidst this suffocating darkness, two lights shone undaunted in the midnight sky; one light was soft gold while the other was pure white.

Super Knuckles floated high above the ground, his body enveloped in a blinding white light and his fur flashing a dark pink color. Beside him floated a pale yellow and red hedgehog. Knuckles nodded to his companion before launching towards the robot.

Knuckles sliced through the air, the invincibility granted by his super form protecting him from the harmful attacks of the robot. The echidna pulled his fist back and let loose a heavy punch, the momentum from the steep incline sending him smashing all the way through the robot's steel chest. Shadow followed suit with an attack of his own.

The robot tried to shoot the echidna and hedgehog out of the sky, but they easily dodged its attacks. Shadow powered up a chaos spear and dove towards one of the robot's arms. The spear cut cleanly through metal and wires as if it were nothing but butter. The robot's hand fell to the ground, landing with a clanking thud. The robot swatted at the glowing hedgehog with its damaged arm, but Shadow maneuvered out of the way.

While the robot was distracted, Knuckles took the opportunity to disarm the other cannon. Knuckles landed on the robot's wrist and began pummeling the joint with bone-breaking punches. The metallic appendage came off, and Knuckles launched from his perch before the robot had the chance to attack him.

Knuckles regrouped with Shadow in front of the robot. The robot tried vainly to swat them out of the sky, but the two sapients easily dodged its attacks. Knuckles turned his head to look at Shadow. "Ready?"

A nod. Like twin missiles the two heroes took off towards the robot. Their energies flared, engulfing them in hot white light. The two tore through the metal exterior of the robot, damaging wires and circuitry as they made their way. They exited out the opposite side, leaving a gapping, smoking hole in their wake.

"Damage ninety-nine percent." The robot droned. "Initiating self-destruct in T-minus fifteen seconds."

"If that things blows this entire continent is done for!" Knuckles shouted. "We have to get it away from here fast, but how?"

The two heroes racked their brains for a solution as the killer robot droned in the background "Ten… nine…eight…"

Knuckles' eyes lit up and Shadow swore as they both came to the same conclusion. Getting into position, Shadow hollered over to Knuckles, "Are you sure you can do this?"

"You hedgehogs aren't the only ones who can harness Chaos energy." Knuckles returned. "Echidnas are the original controllers."

"_…four… three… two…"_

"Chaos Control!"

"…_zero."_

The sky was bathed in flame.

* * *

**Whoa, now that was a good cliffhanger! The story is almost over, with the conclusion (or dénouement for all those fancy people out there) coming next chapter. Thanks everyone for reading and special thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter!**


	12. XII: Brand New Start

**Disclaimer: Sonic and co. belong to SEGA.**

**XII: Brand New Start**

Sonic hummed quietly to himself as he flipped lazily through a magazine. A few hours ago he had woken up, his head and chest slightly sore and his leg encased in a cast. Upon his awakening he had been smothered in hugs from Amy, much to his displeasure. Fortunately, the nurses hauled the pink hedgehog off of him before he suffocated and led her out of the tent so that Sonic could rest. Unable to sleep, Sonic resorted to reading random magazines that the nurses supplied, although they were mostly teen beauty magazines. He was desperate for entertainment.

Night had fallen by this time, but Sonic didn't want to sleep. He had slept all day and was full of energy. The painkillers the doctors had given him worked wonders, and even though he was in rough shape, Sonic felt as if he could run a marathon.

"Sonic! Sonic, come quick!" a breathless fox burst through the flap that separated Sonic from the rest of the infirmary.

"Whoa Tails, take it easy!" Sonic scolded playfully, ruffling his younger brother's head fur.

"Sonic, outside! It's all… and then… come on!" Tails, temporarily overlooking Sonic's condition, grabbed the blue hedgehog's hand and tried to drag him from the bed.

Sonic placed the foot of his uninjured leg on the ground and stood up, his other leg slightly raised off the ground. Sonic hopped forward a bit, but his balance was off and he swayed. Tails caught him before he could topple to the floor and further injure himself. Sonic rubbed his sore head, the sudden movements having aggravated his already sore head and chest. "Probably not my best idea."

Tails was shifting impatiently from foot to foot, casting nervous glances towards the tent's entrance. Sonic tapped his chin in thought, his eyes wandering until they finally rested on an old pair of wooden crutches. His eyes lit up. "Hey Tails, could you get me those crutches over there?"

Tails did as his brother asked, and soon the two were making a stealthy exit out of the tent and into the cool nighttime atmosphere of Angel Island. Many of the island's inhabitants had been awakened by the phenomena that took place that night, and were now ogling the sight in the sky.

Tails led Sonic to a grassy knoll not far from the infirmary. Sonic sat on lush ground and gazed up at the sky to where Tails had directed him. His eyes widened.

The sky had been enveloped in a fiery orange cloud, and remnants of smoke trailed around the edges. The fire had burned away the fog and cloud that previously blanketed the sky, allowing the stars and a gleaming full moon to shine through. Sonic let out a whistle in amazement.

"I wonder what did this." Tails breathed in childlike wonder.

Sonic smiled knowingly. "I may have an idea…"

**VvVvVvV**

A very weary Knuckles entered the small camp on Angel Island later that night, his eyes drooping and his feet dragging in exhaustion. It had been a while since he went Super, and he had forgotten how drained it left you. Shadow followed silently behind him, his face completely masked by indifference, but not even the Ultimate Lifeform could keep surprise from his face at what they saw when entering the camp.

Crowds swarmed the grounds, and as soon as they caught sight of the two heroes they erupted into cheers and applause. The night was filled the echoing thunder of claps that exploded from the excited audience.

Knuckles' eyes were open wide as the crowd surged around him, adults shaking his hand and patting him on the back with "thank you's" and "good jobs" while children chattered excitedly and asked for his autograph.

A loud, familiar voice sounded through the crowd. "There he is! Red, ya did it!"

Knuckles smiled, relieved, as Sonic pushed his way through the crowd. Sonic had a huge dopey grin on his face as he elbowed Knuckles in the ribs. "About time too."

"I didn't see you doing anything!" Knuckles shot back with a chuckle.

A group of teenaged girls laughed at this, and Knuckles' face reddened furiously, causing Sonic to roar with laughter.

"The girls are gonna be all over you now, Knux!" Sonic laughed. "Better beware!"

"I don't know how you deal with all this, Blue." Knuckles shook his head, gesturing at the crowd.

Sonic shrugged. "You get used to it eventually."

"Not me. There's a reason I live alone."

Sonic laughed. "Sure it is."

After casting a glance through the crowd, Sonic turned back to Knuckles. "If you'll excuse me, my good echidna, it seems I have a hedgehog to save."

Through the crowd the echidna noticed an equally uncomfortable Shadow being pestered by the mass. Knuckles shook his head. "Always the hero, Sonic."

Sonic grinned. "It's what I do." With that said, Sonic disappeared into the crowd in search of Shadow.

**VvVvVvV**

Knuckles awoke the next day feeling slightly sore but fully rested. Yawning, Knuckles pushed open the flap of his tent and exited his makeshift home.

The midday sun shone brilliantly and birds sang harmonically in the trees, a sure sign that things had definitely changed. Many families were outside basking in the sun's warmth, laughing and chatting to their heart's content. Children ran and played, smiling and shouting as all kids should. Knuckles smiled at the sight.

Outside of the tent that Vanilla and Cream lived in, everyone was relaxing for what felt like the first time in months. Cream and Amy were having a tea party and Cream had somehow convinced Shadow to join (puppy eyes, Knuckles was sure.). Tails was playing tag with the young hedgehog, though it soon resulted in Tails running around as the hedgehog clung to his tails.

Knuckles shook his head in amusement as he sat down beside Sonic. "It seems things are finally back to normal."

"I don't think there's anything 'normal' about our lives." Sonic chuckled. "But yeah, things finally worked out."

The two friends sat in silence for a while, watching as Cream poured her guests more tea. Since it was a special occasion Vanilla had made real tea for Cream to use, and she and Amy had baked small treats earlier that morning for them to eat.

Shadow was just about to take a sip of his tea when Tails ran by, shouting in pain as the hedgehog gripped his tails. One of his tails swung and collided Shadow's tea cup, causing scalding liquid to spill onto the hedgehog's lap. The hedgehog leapt up with a cry of pain and Vanilla immediately rushed over with a towel. Sonic and Knuckles burst out into fits of laughter, earning themselves a glare from the ebony hedgehog.

"Definitely back to normal!" Sonic gasped between laughing fits. He sighed and whipped a tear from his eye, then turned to Knuckles. "So I've heard about what happened at the factory," he began, "but you never did tell me what happened after that."

"I suppose I haven't." Knuckles sighed. "Well, we teleported that thing out into space…"

_In the vacuum of space two glowing creatures floated, facing off against a massive robot. The invincibility granted by their Super forms protected them from the atmosphere, or lack of. _

"…_zero."_

_With the end of the count down, the robot exploded with a resounding boom. The sky was bathed in flames, and the two anthros had to lift their arms to shield their eyes. Debris was sent flying everywhere, some narrowly missing the heroes. As the smoke cleared, the duo saw the many chunks of metal and wire strewn across the area. Past the carnage, the clouds had cleared, revealing a beautiful picture of the planet below._

_One of the figures, Knuckles, felt sudden fatigue wash over him. When one doesn't use a Super form often, they are not practised and therefore have trouble maintaining their form. Knuckles' eyes widened as he realized, if his Super form faded, he would die._

_Catching his look, Shadow grabbed his arm. His eyes seemed to hold the words. 'Been there, done that.'_

"_Chaos Control!"_

"We got back to earth, returned to the island, and now here we are." Knuckles concluded.

Sonic nodded. Silence washed over them once again, but it was a comfortable silence.

Sonic watched as a butterfly lazily flew past. "So Robotnik's really gone, huh? I don't know whether to be sad or relieved."

"Relieved." Knuckles said. "With him gone, things will be a lot more peaceful."

Sonic shook his head. "For every villain that falls, a new one rises in their place."

"And for every villain that rises, there will always be a hero to oppose them." Knuckles nudged Sonic. "Lighten up, Blue. We've won! We're finally free! Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

Sonic smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

_Hey_

_Tore away the veil of weakness_

_The enemy now lies beneath us_

_I think we're safe_

"GUN is reforming, and the president is finally returning to power." Knuckles said.

Sonic nodded. "Good. We need someone to take the reins of the nation before chaos breaks out." _And before another Robotnik takes the power_.

Knuckles nodded his agreement. Sonic cast his eyes to the ground and he sighed. "I don't think I've had the chance to say this yet but… thanks."

Knuckles looked puzzled. "For what?"

"For not hating me." Sonic rolled his eyes as Knuckles cocked his head to the side. "I really screwed up, attacking you, terrorizing the world, but you don't hate me for it." Sonic looked up at Knuckles. "At least, I don't think you do."

Knuckles shook his head incredulously. "I can't believe you'd think that. Even if you singlehandedly caused the downfall civilization, which wouldn't be surprising, I would forgive you." Knuckles laughed and dodged as Sonic tried to swat him over the head. The blue hedgehog stuck his tongue out at Knuckles. "However, if you harmed the Master Emerald I wouldn't forgive you."

"It's good to see you haven't changed much, Knux." Sonic grinned.

"You either."

_Hey_

_Won't be held down any longer_

_No disgrace and no dishonor_

_Keep us chained_

"Mikael! Mikael!" a female hedgehog ran over to the group. By her tawny fur and gentle features, she had a large resemblance to the young hedgehog Sonic had saved.

Her eyes lit up when they settled on the small hedgehog attached to Tails' tails. "Oh Mikael!" she cried as she rushed over and picked the small hedgehog up. Mikael squealed in delight at being reunited with his mother.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she babbled as tears spilled down her cheeks.

"It was nothing miss." Cream smiled sweetly.

"Speak for yourself." Tails mumbled under his breath. Amy slapped the young fox on the back of the head and he yelped in pain.

The mother retreated with her son cradled in her arms. Tails sighed, and still rubbing the back of his head he sat down at the table. "Finally."

Sonic chuckled as Amy began to scold Tails. "So that's that. But what happens now?"

Knuckles lay back on the soft grass and folded his arms behind his head. "We relax, Sonic. We rest and we heal both physically and mentally."

Sonic groaned. "Sounds boring. I'd rather run."

"And how do you suppose you do that?" Knuckles asked smugly, closing his eyes.

Sonic sighed. "You win this round." A new question came to mind. "What about the Master Emerald?"

"I figured Eggman had it stashed in his factory. That's where the chaos emeralds were. I'll get it soon. I've got time."

Sonic smirked and shook his head, "Am I still talking to Knuckles here?"

_There's nothing we should have to fear_

_It's alright_

_We've come to life_

Sonic lay back on the ground as well, and he closed his eyes as he felt the sunlight warm his fur. "Hey Knux?"

Knuckles opened one eye and looked at Sonic. "Yes?"

"Let's not do this again."

Knuckles snorted. "Agreed."

_We'll never shed another tear_

_It's alright_

_We've come to life_

**-The End-**

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed. The lyrics in the last part of the chapter are from the song "Come to Life" by Alter Bridge. I love that band.**

**Stay tuned, for I have a bonus chapter coming soon, or will probably already be up by the time you read this.**

**Thank You to everyone who reviewed:**

**BlackSandheart**

**TammyHybrid21**

**Sunheart13**

**Chaotic hedgehog**

**Lordoftheghostking28**

**Kirbymon11**

**Super-sonic Iblish**

**lydiathetigeropean**

**SomeguytheKeagan**

**Guest**

**Gnat1**

**Starkage the dragon**

**ike**

**Whisper**

**EvilChalkboard**

**Nightmare the Dragon**

**Werehog20**

**Aj the human**

**Guest**

**Guest**

**ShadowandMadonna (or whatever name you go by now. I can't remember)**

**Thank you to all who favorited:**

**Aj the human**

**Chaotic hedgehog**

**Chelly2K**

**Gnat1**

**LilyRosetheDreamer**

**Starkage the dragon**

**Sunheart13**

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**Xerneas**

**gamer097**

**luckykatsuma**

**lydiathetigeropean**

**And of course, thank you to everyone who read this story! You all are amazing!**

**Music that inspired the story/set the mood:**

**I Will Remain- The Veer Union**

**Divide the Blackened Sky- The Veer Union**

**Remnants- Disturbed**

**What I've Done- Linkin Park**

**Savin' Me- Nickleback**

**Show Me a Sign- Alter Bridge**

******Loading the Weapon- Disturbed**

**Buried in the Ground- The Veer Union**

**Bitter End- The Veer Union**

**Promise to No One- Janus**

**Run- Disturbed**

**This Time It's Different- Evans Blue**

**Erase My Scars- Evans Blue**

**Light Up the Sky- Thousand Foot Krutch**

**Come to Life- Alter Bridge**

**Graveyard of Empires- Evans Blue**

**That's all for now! See ya guys around!**


	13. Bonus: Alternate Scenes

**Alternate Scenes**

_How does a comedian produce a dark, humorless story? With great difficulty, I can tell you. While some spots of humor were included in the final product, many of the comedic reliefs were removed in an effort to retain the darker mood of the story. For your utmost pleasure, here are those moments._

**Chapter 4: Shameless Rip-off #1**

The duo entered the forest, moving as quietly as they could. There were no birds chirping in this forest.

Something caught Knuckles' attention. To his left was a small orange tiger lily poking its head out from beneath the dead grass.

"Ooh look Shadow, it's a flower!" Knuckles exclaimed as he knelt down and caressed the soft petals.

Shadow looked back at his crimson companion. "Um… hooray?"

Knuckles pulled the flower from the dirt. "Can you look at its virtual energy? It's so beautiful!"

"You know that's just a flower."

"But look at it." Knuckles stood up and thrust the flower in Shadow's face. "It's from this earth, so nice and pure! Have you ever noticed a balance between good and evil, Shadow?"

As he was saying this, the flower slowly began to wilt. Knuckles closed his eyes and bowed his head in mourning. "Look, it is dead now."

Shadow face palmed. "The author really needs to lay off the YouTube."

**Chapter 4: An Unexpected Encounter**

They quickened their pace. The two animals dashed through the forest, swerving around tree trunks and skirting the edges of various shrubs. They finally came to a stop in a small clearing. There was no noise aside from the animals' breathing. The forest was eerily still and silent.

"Like the calm before the storm."

The voice came from behind Knuckles and Shadow. They spun fast but saw nothing. No one was there.

The voice chuckled. There was something very familiar about that laugh. Knuckles turned and found himself staring into a plain, featureless face. Slender Man.

"Oh crap."

**Chapter 7: The Ultimate Fight Night**

He trailed off as something on the TV caught his eye. Quickly, Vector grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

"_...to the biggest event of the year. A battle in which none can compare..._"

Espio sighed. "It's just another of Eggman's brawls. It's sick how he forces innocents to fight like that..."

Vector hushed Espio. "Look!"

_"... Tonight's battle will feature two very special guests..."_

Two blurry pictures appeared on the screen. Everyone's jaws dropped in shock.

It was at that moment that Knuckles entered the room. He gazed at the four in the room in confusion before shifting to glance at the screen. His eyes widened and his confusion increased.

"Jackie Chan? Chuck Norris?" Knuckles turned back to the others. "Is a fight that awesome even legal?"

**Chapter 8: A Hero's Priorities**

Knuckles cradled his injured friend in his arms. "You stupid hedgehog." He whispered. "Why would you do this?"

"Because of this."

Shadow had wandered a little ways off and returned carrying something small. Knuckles looked up and saw a half-eaten chilidog cradled in the Ultimate Lifeform's arms.

"You have got to be kidding me."

**Chapter 8: More Shameless Rip-Offs**

The two anthros lifted the heavy scrap metal with loud grunts. Knuckles released the steel and ducked under it to pull Sonic's limp body from the wreckage. When Shadow was sure Sonic was out, he let the metal fall back to the ground with a loud clank.

Knuckles cradled his injured friend in his arms. "Sonic! Sonic, speak to me!"

Sonic was about to say something when Knuckles interrupted. "Sonic! Brave Sonic, you shall not have died in vain!"

"Knuckles, I'm not quite dead."

Knuckles looked slightly deflated. "Oh, well ... er brave Sonic! You shall not have been fatally wounded in vain!"

"I think I could pull through."

Shadow face palmed. "Enough with the movie quotes, please."

**Chapter 9: A Shocking Discovery**

"Eggman's factories usually have the same layout." Knuckles said as he began a rough sketch on the paper. "Entrances are usually here, to the north. There's a maze of hallways afterwards, some leading to the main production room, others leading to the outside. They're there to confuse trespassers." Knuckles drew out all the hallways he could remember, before drawing a large rectangle for the production room.

"To the left of that room," he continued, "is an armory. To the right is his personal quarters, I believe." He sketched the aforementioned places. "Just north of the armory is his fitness room, and north of his quarters, his main office. Now-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Shadow interrupted. "Robotnik has a fitness room?"

**Chapter 9: We Didn't Need to See That**

Knuckles turned down the aforementioned tunnel with Shadow following close behind. The putrid scent of oil and smoke grew stronger, making Knuckles gag as it wafted into his nose and mouth. Finally reaching another vent, Knuckles peered through the grating and saw something that made his eyes burn and his blood run cold.

Eggman was doing yoga.

_"…on your hands and knees and extend your left leg back into the air. Don't forget to breathe as you extend…" _the woman in the video instructed. Eggman tried to mimic her pose but due to his large abdomen and tiny arms and legs this proved quite difficult. Knuckles watched this horror unfold, unable to look away due to being paralyzed by fear.

"…_ and from a standing position we're going to bend down and touch our toes…"_

The once great, strong echidna was reduced to a pathetic, quivering ball of fur. Shadow looked at him in confusion. "What's going on up there?"

Knuckles glanced back at the dark hedgehog with a horror stricken face and whispered hoarsely, "You don't want to know."

**Chapter 10: Making an Entrance**

The heavy double doors swung open, the hinges screaming in protest as wood violently met plaster walls. Startled by the sudden noise, a large rotund man looked up from his work towards the disturbance. Surprise flashed briefly across his face when his eyes settled on the red echidna that stood before him.

"The jig is up, Eggman! Prepare to die!" Knuckles shouted.

Eggman looked at him in disbelief. "Really? That's all you can think of?"

"…"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Knuckles sent a mighty kick into the entrance. The heavy double doors swung open, the hinges screaming in protest as wood violently met plaster walls. The force of impact caused the doors to bounce back and swing shut in the echidna's face.

From where he sat at his desk, Eggman chuckled. "That's embarrassing."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The heavy double doors swung open, the hinges screaming in protest as wood violently met plaster walls. Startled by the sudden noise, a large rotund man looked up from his work towards the disturbance. Surprise flashed briefly across his face when his eyes settled on the red echidna that stood before him. The surprise was soon masked by a steady nonchalant gaze.

"Would it have been too much of a bother to knock?" the doctor asked in a deadpan tone.

Knuckles rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh heh, sorry."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm just gonna… I'm gonna try that again." Knuckles said, turning back to the doors and exiting the room.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A knock came at the door. Eggman looked up in surprise. He had not been expecting visitors.

"Who's there?" the evil doctor asked.

"Ooh I've heard this joke before! Uhh… no don't tell me." On the other side of the door Knuckles was rubbing his chin. "Oh yeah! Banana!"

"Banana who?"

More knocking. Eggman sighed. "Who's there?"

"Banana!"

"Banana who?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Eggman looked up as he heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's the pizza man!"

At the mention of pizza Eggman immediately became excited. "Really?"

"No, it's Knuckles and I've come to kill you!"

"Oh…Can I still have pizza?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The heavy double doors swung open, the hinges screaming in protest as wood violently met plaster walls. Startled by the sudden noise, a large rotund man looked up from his work towards the disturbance. Surprise flashed briefly across his face when his eyes settled on the red echidna that stood before him.

"Who ordered the extra-large butt-whooping?"

"That would be me!" Eggman said, getting out of his chair. "You're late! That means I get it for free!"

Knuckles sweat dropped. "Ok…"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

More knocking at the door. Eggman was ready to tear out his moustache in frustration. "Who's there?"

"Orange!"

"Orange who?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

Eggman sighed and massaged his temples. "You have no idea."

**Chapter 10: A Dramatic Ending**

Faster than anyone would think possible for a man of his stature, Robotnik whipped a small object out from behind his back. It was a ray gun of sorts; red and yellow in color and barely larger than the scientist's hand.

Shadow disregarded this childish weapon and continued his assault, more and more energy gathering into his hand. Robotnik's smirk only widened. Just as Shadow was about to launch the spear, Eggman pulled the trigger.

A small stream of teal colored energy shot from the gun, striking the Ultimate Lifeform in the chest. Shadow gasped. "No! I've been hit!"

Shadow fell to his knees, clutching his chest as he gasped for breath. "Everything's growing so dark!" he cried over-dramatically. "My body…everything's going numb. Is this the end?"

Coughs racked the dark hedgehog's body. "S-so c-c-cold." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "There… I see a light. Maria? Is that you?"

Finally, Shadow dropped to the floor. With one last painful gasp, he fell still.

"Shadow!" Knuckles dropped to his knees beside the Ultimate Lifeform. "Brave Shadow, you shall not have died in vain!"

Shadow's eyes snapped open and he glared at Knuckles. "Really? We're doing that quote again?"


End file.
